


Changes in Biology

by lovekernel



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Chameleon Arch, F/F, Romance, eventual thasmin, grace is alive, human doctor, ryan and graham are background characters, yaz is thirteens only companion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovekernel/pseuds/lovekernel
Summary: The Doctor is forced to use the Chameleon Arch once again to turn herself human. Yaz is left in Sheffield, not far from where the Doctor is living a normal human life, with few details on what happened, only a letter with instructions. She’s finding it hard to follow just one- making no contact with Jenny Song.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m obsessed with the concept of the chameleon arch, I wish they’d bring it back on the show for 13 or a future Doctor!  
> For the sake of effective storytelling Ryan and Graham aren’t companions in this, as much as I love them I’d rather focus on just one core relationship (also thasmin would drown them out eventually!)  
> Thank you for reading!

Two months of normality. Yaz had had two months of this, and that was more than enough.

She didn’t realise how good being away from Sonya had been for her general disposition. Traffic disputes were even harder to bear than before. Sheffield, the city she had always loved, looked more grey as each day passed.

Two months of boring. Back to her life before seeing the universe. No alien planets, no time travel, no TARDIS. The biggest loss of all- no Doctor.

Here she was, at the station zoning out of the morning briefing, taking notes on auto-pilot and wishing she was somewhere else. Preferably in the company of a Time Lord.

“Uhh…” the sergeant read through his list and fell on one item that made his face drop. “Oh. Yes, I need a volunteer. Redlands Secondary School is having career talks next week and they want someone from the station to go in and talk about the police. There’s a pint in it for whoever makes sure that person isn’t me.”

There was silence in the room as Yaz processed his words and realised what he said.

“...if you’re at all interested, let me know by-”

“I’ll do it!” Yaz practically yelled across the room. Everyone was staring at her. She swallowed. “Sorry, sir. I can do the talk, if you’d like, I mean if that’s okay, I know I’m a junior-”

“Yaz,” the sergeant stopped her. “The job’s yours.”

“Great! Thank you, sir!”

“Hmm, sure, Yaz,” he said, scanning the list once more before looking up. “I think that’s it, you’re all dismissed.”

Yaz knew this was breaking the Doctor’s rules. No contact. Much safer for them both that way, she said, in the letter she wrote to Yaz before she used the Chameleon Arch to turn herself human. She had to see her though, despite the Doctor’s written insistence that everything was going to be fine, Yaz worried.

She hadn’t seen the Doctor since she dropped her off in Sheffield for a ’quick visit’ the day before she received the letter.

She needed to know that she was okay and, rather selfishly, Yaz had to do something to ease her sense of loss. Even just for a little while.

***

Yaz stood at the front desk of Redlands Secondary.

“PC Khan I presume?” the secretary said, looking pointedly at her uniform. “You’re a bit early…”

“Am I?” Yaz feigned innocence. She couldn’t help her excitement over seeing the Doctor again. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s alright. You can go wait in the staff room.” She caught something over Yaz’s shoulder and smiled. “Jenny!”

Yaz turned and her breath caught in her throat. A blonde head turned to face them, sticking out above stacks of glass lab containers from a tray in their hands.

Yaz did this to get close to the Doctor but she wasn’t expecting to see her so soon. She missed her so much and two months of yearning for her company hit Yaz all at once.

The Doctor ambled over to the front desk, just about balancing everything.

“Hi!”

“Jenny, love, can you please show PC Khan to the staff room?”

“Of course!” The Doctor smiled at Yaz over the graduated cylinders. A warm, but polite smile. The sort that came without the glow of recognition.

“Pleasure to meet you, PC Khan! I’d shake your hand but, you know…”

“D’you want a hand there?”

“Oh no, I’m fine, I've got this.”

Yaz tried to take some of the load and the Doctor swung the tray away, amazingly not knocking anything off as she went.

“Staff room! Let’s go!”

She took off with the sound of shaking glass in her wake.

“Thank you,” Yaz told the secretary before jogging after the Doctor. She slowed and they fell into step beside each other.

“So,” the Doctor said, “here for the career talks?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

Yaz looked down at the Doctor’s clothes, straight jeans that looked well-worn and a navy blue shirt under her lab coat. Not far off from the clothes she wore as her old self, comfortable and practical, just missing her signature eccentricities. It was a bit odd seeing the Doctor without her rainbows and lilac coat.

She looked so human and average. Yaz supposed that was what the TARDIS intended when she created an identity, so the Doctor wouldn’t stand out like she usually did, but at least it wasn’t too far from the Doctor’s comfort zone. Yaz looked at her feet and checked, brown boots. The TARDIS definitely took care there.

Her face was covered by the sweep of hair the Doctor was constantly battling with. Yaz wanted to reach over and tuck it behind her ear for her and she had to stop herself from automatically helping her friend while her hands were full.

It was odd as well to walk with the Doctor like this in silence, she usually filled it with her meandering thoughts, speaking them as they came to her. Perhaps it was another built-in feature to keep the Doctor from drawing too much attention to herself. Maybe she couldn't be recognised for her face but those long excited explanations would give her away in an instant. Something Yaz recalled fondly many times since she last saw her- how the Doctor spoke about all the wonders of the universe, colouring them even more than reality with her enthusiasm.

“It’s just down here,” the Doctor said, leading them down a long corridor.

At the end they came to a door and before Yaz could reach for it the Doctor went ahead and pushed it open with her back. She leaned against it, holding the door open and nodding to Yaz to go through.

“Thank you,” Yaz said, smiling at her as she passed.

The Doctor grinned back, her face distorted through the glass containers. “You’re welcome!” she said. “Margaret!” she called out to a woman by the sink. “This is PC Khan, here for the talks!”

Margaret turned around and saw Yaz. “Thank you, Jenny!”

When Yaz looked back again, the door was swinging shut. The Doctor was gone. She faced Margaret, who stepped forward to shake her hand.

“Hi, I’m Margaret Thorne. Guidance counsellor. Thank you so much for coming in, PC Khan.”

“It’s nice to meet you! Call me Yaz if you’d like.”

“Yaz. Care for a cup of tea?”

“I’d love one, thank you!”

Margaret hummed as she filled the kettle. “I spoke to your sergeant on the phone, I hope he told you what to expect. Are you all set for the presentation?”

Yaz sat down at the table. “Yeah, should be pretty straightforward I reckon.”

“Great, that’s fabulous.”

Yaz tried to think of a casual way to ask about the Doctor. She wanted to know how she was getting on at the school.

“The teacher who showed me in here, what was her name?”

“Ms. Song! Our new biology teacher, she’s absolutely wonderful. Came to us a couple of months ago.”

Oh good, Yaz thought, she’s chatty. Margaret was interrupted by the door opening again and an older woman stepping through.

“This is Sarah, our other biology teacher. Sarah, PC Khan- Yaz, sorry.”

Sarah gave Yaz a tired wave and fell into a chair across from her.

“Oh she’s brilliant!” Margaret continued. “I’ve had so many girls coming in to me saying they want to do science in university, three for medicine, just in the past few weeks she’s been teaching! Usually only get a handful asking after those courses.”

“This Jenny you’re talking about?” asked Sarah. “So enthusiastic. I came up there once to borrow a beaker and the whole class was sitting on the benches, Ms. Song in the middle of it all, with a frame holding a flayed sheep’s heart, pumping dye through it with this great big tube contraption she’d made. The kids were completely entranced, no one even noticed me walk in. When I did the heart dissections, I had two fainters and half the class couldn’t find the aorta.”

Yaz smiled at the image Sarah described, matching the Doctor's expression to her memories. “She sounds amazing.”

“Tell you what, I wish I had a fraction of her energy,” Sarah said, slumping over the table to lean her head on her hand. “She’s always bopping around the place. Keeps to herself mostly, though. Actually pretty quiet outside class.”

Margaret set down a carton of milk. “We’re very lucky to have her. She came at just the right time.”

Yaz dumped her tea bag into a bowl. “Maternity leave or something was it?”

“The job was open for a long while,” Margaret answered, opening a cupboard and peering inside. “Our old biology teacher, Ms. Cassidy, she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and took leave unexpectedly. She’s a wonderful teacher too, it seemed impossible to find someone to take her place. We’ve had lots of temps in to cover the classes. Seems like Jenny is settling down quite well here though, hopefully she’ll stay for as long as we need her.”

Something pulled in Yaz’s chest at that. She nodded, and took a sip of tea to hide her face.

Slamming another cupboard closed, Margaret turned around with her hands on her hips.  
“Sarah, have you seen the custard creams?”

That was all it took to make Yaz smile again.

“I bought a huge pack this morning for today and I left them right here,” Margaret said, pointing to the counter and looking around in puzzlement.

Yaz imagined the Doctor quietly taking the biscuits to fuel her weird addiction and she couldn’t suppress a laugh. The two women looked at her.

“Sorry,” Yaz said, swallowing the last laugh. “Sorry, I just remembered something funny.”

“Care to share with the class?”

Yaz shook her head. “You kind of had to be there.”

 ***

“I thought this was more of a classroom presentation sort of thing?”

Yaz looked over the heads of an assembly hall full of students from her spot standing in the wings of the stage.

“So did I,” said the man on her left, dressed in a suit with the name tag ‘Derek, Accountant’. He looked a bit green.

Margaret bustled through holding a list. “Yeah, we do it every year and usually it’s just the Year 11’s but we thought this time we’d get some of the younger students in, you know, to get them thinking about the future. So, Derek, you’re up first. I’ll introduce you, just wait for your cue.”

With that, Margaret strode onstage. She began speaking, talking about career paths, university and alternative routes to getting where you want to be.

Yaz looked over at Derek. He was grey now.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine once you get out there.”

“I really don’t think I can do this,” he said, staring blankly ahead.

Yaz was about to deliver another generic encouragement but she realised he meant it.

“How about I go on before you? It’ll be easier if you’re not the first, I’m sure.”

Derek looked at her like she’d just plucked him from a ledge. “Would you? That would be great, thank you so much.”

“Sure, no problem at all!”

Then Margaret was looking their way. “And now I’m happy to introduce you to our accountant…” she trailed off, spotting Yaz at the very edge of the stage with her eyebrows raised and ready to step out, implying she was going on first. 

“Change of plan!” Margaret said, addressing the audience once more as Yaz walked onstage. “I’d like to introduce you to PC Yasmin Khan of Hallamshire Police, here to speak to you about keeping law and order on the streets of Sheffield. Give her a nice warm welcome!”

There was sporadic clapping amongst the students and a stronger response from the back of the room where some staff were standing.

Yaz instantly spotted the Doctor watching and clapping happily. Still, as if she didn’t know Yaz at all, not the comforting familiarity she usually found in the Doctor’s gaze.

Of course not, Yaz finally affirmed for herself. This wasn’t the Doctor who watched her now. It was Jenny Song.

Yaz almost forgot she was supposed to be speaking.

“Hi everyone! So, I’m going to talk to you about being in the police, how you get into this job, what you need to do if it’s something you’d like to pursue…”

Yaz couldn’t take her eyes off Ms. Song and she focused on a ginger boy in the audience instead, “... the day-to-day tasks, some of the more exciting stuff, and how you might advance within the police.” Now this ginger kid looked nervous, Yaz moved her gaze. Public speaking didn’t usually catch her out, but this was difficult.

She pushed on, worked through her notes, she even made the students laugh once or twice and soon it was over. She hadn’t looked at Ms. Song once since the beginning.

As she walked off the stage to a stronger applause than what greeted her, Yaz allowed herself a quick glance at her best friend’s face.

The second she looked, Ms. Song was looking at her too and their eyes met. The beginnings of a smile appeared on the Doctor’s face before contact was broken by a curtain at the edge of the stage.

A hollow feeling hit her and she walked right into Margaret.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!”

“That was great, Yaz, well done!”

“Thank you,” Yaz said, “and thanks for having me. I have to get back to the station-“

“No! I thought you’d stay for tea afterwards!”

“Margaret I-”

“Please, stay, Yaz! Just for a bit, we’d like to thank you for your time.”

Yaz really didn’t want to see the Doctor again. Not right away, not with the way she felt at that moment. She missed her Doctor, Jenny was a stranger with her face.

“I… okay.” But when would she see her again? "Sure, I’ll stay.”

“Lovely.” Margaret turned away and gave Derek a pat on the back before pushing him onstage. “Good luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left my laptop charger in another country over the Christmas break and this was written entirely on my phone, so apologies for any mistakes in format and spelling!  
> Thanks so much for reading and please let me know what you think!  
> How do you feel about Jenny Song? I love Joan Smith but I thought this would be a nice nod to her daughter and I thought about how Rory was Mr. Pond for so long that it felt right for the Doctor to take her wife’s name! Seemed like something 13 would do :D  
> Next chapter will be in Jenny’s POV


	2. Chapter 2

Jenny stood on her front doorstep and breathed in the morning air. The sun had just risen, painting the sky with pink and yellow. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and pulled her bike through the door.

"Morning, Grace and Graham,” she said as she came down the driveway and saw her neighbours chatting at the end of their garden, each with a cup of tea. She loved that bit of alliteration. Perfect for each other.

They both turned at the same time. “Hello, Jenny,” Grace said. “How’re you doing?”

“Fine, Grace, and you?”

“Good as always,” Grace replied, patting Graham’s arm. “Got any plans for for your Friday night?”

“A good book waits on my bedside table.” Did she imagine that or did they look disappointed? “How about you guys?”

“A quiet night in, I think,” Graham said, looking to his wife for agreement.

“All I’ll be able for after this shift,” added Grace. “Speaking of.” She handed her cup over to Graham and hoisted her bag over her shoulder.

Their grandson came out the door, looking down at his phone as he went. “Alright, Jenny?”

“Morning Ryan,” she replied. “Got any Friday night plans?”

He looked up from his screen. “Going out, how ‘bout you?”

“The very opposite.”

Ryan’s face dropped. “No.”

She definitely didn’t imagine that. “I’m not the only one, your grandparents are staying home.”

“They’re old. You’re thirty-two and you live alone,” Ryan said. “It’s about time you made some friends here, Jen.”

Graham swatted Ryan’s arm and Grace hit him with a disapproving glare.

“Sorry. See ya.” Ryan gave Jenny an apologetic smile before trudging off towards the bus stop.

Jenny stared after him. Nice to know others were thinking the same things she thought about herself.

Grace smiled kindly. “He’s not totally wrong, love. You’ve had enough time to settle in now.”

Gesturing around with his mug, Graham shook his head. “Don’t you worry Jenny, if you like your life the way it is then you’re doing just fine.”

Jenny smiled at his support, her face clashed with the response she had in mind- I don’t.

She wheeled her bike off the curb and turned around. “How did Ryan know how old I was?”

Grace shrugged. “Good guess, I suppose.”

“Or it’s obvious.”

Graham looked down at Jenny’s clothes. “Trust me, the way you dress, it’s really not.”

She scoffed. “Bit rude, Graham.”

“You’re a teacher, for crying out loud! Ditch the jeans!”

Jenny laughed as she mounted her bike. “Have a great day, you two.”

“See you, Jenny!”

“Bye now!” They waved as she cycled off.

Before they were out of sight, Jenny looked back and saw Graham kiss Grace across the gate, letting her hand go as she walked away.

She did want people in her life. But as soon as she started to get on with someone it was as if walls came down around her. Big steel walls. With a concrete shell. They felt protective, but they didn’t make her any happier.

She didn’t know why she was like this, she just was. As hard as she tried she couldn’t seem to fight it.

 

***

 

A beaker fell.

Jenny winced before she heard the smash. She stared at the mess for a moment and kept walking to the laboratory door with a tray of containers in her arms. She’d get that later. She promised Sarah she would bring back everything she borrowed from her before the next class started.

At the door, she whipped around.

No, better clean it up now, a student could walk in while she was gone, slip on the glass and hurt themselves. Jenny slowly set the tray down and grabbed a brush.

Once the mess was cleared, she was on her way again.

The stairs were a challenge, but she made it down without dropping another glass. Rather skilfully, Jenny thought to herself. She went around the front of the school, there were fewer turns on the way to the downstairs lab. As she approached the office, Jenny heard Mrs. Smyth’s voice speaking to a visitor.

“Jenny!” Mrs. Smyth called out.

She stopped in her tracks. This tray was getting heavy. Jenny poked her head over the contents as she walked to the desk. The visitor, a policewoman, she saw the uniform now, turned around and looked at her, wide-eyed. The moment Jenny locked eyes with her, she was filled with a sense of excitement, the origin of which she could not place. “Hi!”

“Jenny, love, can you please show PC Khan to the staff room?”

“Of course!” Jenny looked at PC Khan and smiled. Where did this feeling come from? She was sure they had never met- she would definitely remember a face like that. The policewoman smiled back at her, in a way that Jenny thought there must be a connection between them. She felt like somehow those eyes already knew her.

“Pleasure to meet you, PC Khan! I’d shake your hand but, you know…”

PC Khan didn’t say anything then, nothing to suggest this wasn’t their first meeting. Thank the stars, it would be pretty rude of her not to remember. Why did she feel this way then?

Who knows. She sometimes had funny moments, where something felt so familiar though she had never experienced it before. Like déja vu.

But she had never felt like this before.

“D’you want a hand there?” PC Khan asked, stretching forward.

Clutching the tray closer, Jenny shook her head confidently. “Oh no, I’m fine, I've got this.”

She swung the tray as she turned in the right direction, managing not to send anything flying out of it. Jenny was quite pleased with herself. Was that impressively graceful, or did it look clumsy and reckless? Impressive, hopefully impressive.

“Staff room! Let’s go!” she said, setting off down the corridor.

A few steps ahead, Jenny realised PC Khan wasn’t with her. She looked back and the policewoman was jogging to catch up. Jenny immediately slowed down, and when PC Khan met her she matched her steps.

“So…” Jenny wracked her brain for some natural conversation as they walked along, still distracted by their meeting,“... here for the career talks?”

PC Khan nodded. “Yep, that’s right.”

Jenny was about to ask ‘what do you do?’ She could have slapped herself if she had a hand spare. She knew that! She forgot that, in the space of about a minute.

She glanced over at PC Khan, who was now looking down at her clothes. Graham’s comment that morning sprung to mind and made her self-conscious.

Then she realised she was still wearing her lab coat. Forgetting to take it off after doing experiments in class was a habit Jenny couldn’t shake, she just felt so comfortable in it, and she couldn’t deny she loved the swish it did when she ran around the lab. Besides that, she always felt a bit naked without a jacket on. She guessed it was the security of deep pockets the rest of her clothes tend to lack.

They were close to their destination now, and Jenny had barely said a word nor even looked at PC Khan on the journey. Typical.

She broke the silence, glancing over at the policewoman. “It’s just down here.”

At the staff room Jenny brushed past PC Khan to the door. She put her back against the wood to push it open and stood there holding it, waiting for PC Khan to go through.

Thank you,” PC Khan said.

Jenny watched her face as she passed. The glass between them magnified PC Khan’s smile, her dimples, her shining eyes. Jenny’s heart rate jumped.

“You’re welcome!”

She willed her pulse back to a normal rhythm. What was she thinking? This woman was too young for her. Or was she? How old was she? It’s not like she’d get anywhere now anyway, not after ignoring her the whole time they’d been alone.

Jenny shook her head against the building energy as too many thoughts came at once. She looked inside the room and spotted the guidance counsellor. “Margaret! This is PC Khan, here for the talks!”  
  
“Thank you, Jenny!”

Before she knew what she was doing, Jenny had left the door and walked back up the corridor.

Get over it, Jenny thought, some people are just meant to be passing strangers. Or was that another excuse?

She blew a frustrated breath at the hair that kept falling across her face. What could she have done differently in that short space of time?

Why was this bothering her so much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think!  
> Bit of a filler chapter just to introduce Jenny because life did that thing and happened. Next chapter will move forward.  
> Though they're not companions on the TARDIS, I found a way to get Graham, Ryan and YES GRACE in here! It's an AU, just let it take you away :D


	3. Chapter 3

“You seem awfully curious about Jenny,” a voice said.

Yaz turned to the source and Sarah was there, grinning. Heat rose to her cheeks.

“She seems like an interesting character.”

“Yes, I can tell you think so.” Sarah regarded Yaz’s face as she stared across the crowded staff room at Ms. Song. “If you want to get to know her I suggest you go over there now and make the first move. She’s a bit on the shy side.”

Yaz watched Jenny sip from a mug, staring around and shuffling on her feet.

“I say a bit,” Sarah continued, “looks like a chronic case. I asked her over for dinner with my wife when she first started, to get to know her you know.”

“And?” Yaz asked.

“And she cancelled last minute. She’ll be off now, watch. I don’t think she’s too comfortable around people.”

“Right.”

“She’s pretty good one-on-one though.”

“You really want me to go over there, don’t you?”

“I have a sixth sense about these things.”

“Oh you don’t mean… oh no, we’re not-” Stop. No ‘we’. You don’t know Jenny. “I mean I’m not interested, not like that.”

“Okay! It’s fine, you don’t have to affirm your heterosexuality to me.”

Yaz smiled and shook her head. “And I’m not straight either.”

“Oh, thank god!” Sarah put her hand to her chest. “I’m not totally broken!”

“Yeah, guess not.”

“She’s not either.” Sarah jerked her head towards Jenny.

“...Broken?”

“No! No, she’s not straight.”

“Did she say so or was this your sixth sense again?”

“Don’t need it when I have eyes. Look at her boots.”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong but that actually doesn’t mean anything.”

“I’ve got a feeling, Yaz.”

Yaz got that feeling too, with the Doctor though, who rarely showed any genuine romantic interest but also didn’t seem to favour any gender. She flirted a bit with everyone, or perhaps that was just her immense friendliness. Whatever it was, it didn’t discriminate.

Jenny watched Yaz chatting to Sarah, quite a deep conversation from the looks of it.

She wished she had a fraction of Sarah’s conversation skills. Suddenly they both looked her way. Jenny immediately switched her gaze to another direction.

Oh god, were they talking about her? Or maybe PC Khan noticed her staring like a creep.

She should go over and say hi. Make it slightly less weird. But she couldn’t move.

Just go, Jenny. Go over there and say something. Anything is better than doing nothing. Doing nothing is always what she regrets the most, at least her embarrassing attempts stood to show she tried.

Jenny’s eyes automatically went to the door, like a nervous tic, in a crowded room she always found the exits.

But not this time.

She looked back at PC Khan and found her looking right at her. Then PC Khan looked away.

Jenny’s heart sunk. Alright then, what to make of that? Well, she definitely thought she was a creep now.

“Ms. Song?”

Jenny turned around and saw a student standing at the door. “Hi Sam, you alright?”

“Can I just ask a question about the homework?”

“Of course.” Jenny put her cup down and went outside to speak to him. As soon as she left the room she felt relief, and just a smidge of early regret. She already knew that she wasn’t going back in, and that there was no reason she shouldn’t. Just fear, a fear she couldn’t even explain.

Yaz took another glimpse across the room and saw Jenny had disappeared, exactly as Sarah predicted.

“I’d better get back to work.”

“It’s been nice chatting to you, Yaz. You got a number I can give Ms. Song?”

“You sure are persistent.”

Sarah smirked. "Gotta look out for each other! Especially the timid ones." Then she held a straight face. “In all seriousness, I think it would be nice for Jenny to make some friends outside the school.”

“She doesn’t have any?”

“None I know of.”

Yaz sighed. This wasn’t fair.

“I don’t have to be totally wrong,” Sarah said. “You could still make good friends.”

Yaz was tempted to share her details, her heart went out for Jenny, and she wasn’t the Doctor but Yaz could see there were hints of her friend in this woman. She cared about her and she couldn’t help that she wanted to get to know her.

But she was loyal to the Doctor, and she had already pushed too far.

“I’ve got to go, I’m sorry.”

Sarah smiled kindly. “No problem, thanks for coming in, Yaz.”

“Thanks for having me. Bye, Sarah.”

Yaz made her way outside the school and stood at the entrance, just thinking. Something was tugging her back inside, against her better judgement. Against the one thing the Doctor was adamant about. Yaz looked back at the school doors and walked towards her car.

 

***

 

Back in her lab, Jenny marked class tests from the day before. She was busy pressing her special stamp with a little rainbow that said ‘Amazing!” onto all the A-achiever’s papers (more than the last test, she was pleased to discover) when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Jenny called. She didn’t look up as the door opened, but she caught a swatch of fluorescent green in her peripheral vision. The information took a second to compute and then Jenny looked up. “PC Khan!- I mean, um, hi! You were brilliant earlier, very informative!”

Yaz beamed. “Thanks, Ms. Song.” She missed that excitement.

Jenny’s forehead crinkled. “Did I tell you my name?”

Yaz pointed back where she came from. “It’s written on the door.”

“Oh right, yeah. You’ll make detective someday!”

“Maybe,” Yaz replied.

She fixed her eyes on Jenny as if taking her in, and once again Jenny had that odd feeling of familiarity.  

Yaz reminded herself of the situation. She took a breath. “Sorry to barge in-”

“Don’t be!” Jenny blurted out. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Yaz laughed. A great sound, Jenny thought.

“I’ve got a confession to make, I didn’t know your name from the door.”

Jenny swallowed. Maybe they did know each other. Finally, she’ll know how. If they do know each other, that is. This feeling was so strange.

Yaz stood across from Jenny at her desk. “I’ve heard so much about you since I got here. Apparently you’re a fantastic teacher.”

“I try my best.”

Yaz looked at the bits and bobs on the desk. A slinky, a purple pen she recognised as the Doctor’s, a stolen custard cream.

Jenny swiped the biscuit off the desk and threw it in a bin behind her. “No food or drink in the lab,” she said, smiling.

Destroying evidence, Yaz thought. She picked up Jenny’s stamp. She examined the design and a sense of loss ebbed in her chest.

Jenny leaned across the desk with her chin rested in her hand, watching Yaz turn the plastic between her fingers, wondering what was so interesting. Usually people went straight for the slinky. PC Khan had very long eyelashes, she noticed, and deep brown eyes.

Yaz realised it was a bit strange to go through the things of someone you just met, and she put the stamp down.

“So, Ms. Song, you just moved here?”

“Yeah, just recently. How about you PC Khan, you from Sheffield?” This was going okay, Jenny thought. Actually, for the first time in a while, it felt easy.

“I am, yeah. So how’s it going so far? You settling in okay?”

“Think so. I really like Sheffield!”

“You living on your own or do you have family with you?”

Jenny laughed. Was that a way of asking if she was single? Wishful thinking?

“You ask a lot of questions, PC Khan!” she said playfully.

Yaz shook her head. “Sorry.” This interrogation definitely wasn’t normal for someone you just met. And wasn’t in handcuffs. “Yeah, sorry. Suppose it comes with the job!”

Jenny nodded, surveying PC Khan in her uniform, and remembered there was a question. “To answer you though, I’m on my own at home. How about you?”

“Oh, I’m with my family. Hoping to move out soon though, as much as I love them.”

Jenny caught the tone. “Big family is it?”

“Not really, just… close.”

“Ah, I see.”

Just then, two students walked in with books in their arms. They stopped at the door, looking between the two women. “Sorry, should we wait outside?”

“Oh, no!” Jenny said. “Come on in.” She stood up and touched PC Khan’s shoulder. Too friendly? “Sorry, the bell’s about to go,” she said as she led them out to the corridor.

“No worries, I’m late getting back to work. It was great to meet you, Ms. Song. Really,” Yaz said sincerely. This was hard, she didn’t want to leave. But no, Jenny wasn’t the Doctor. She felt a bit like her though. Just enough to make Yaz feel better.

Jenny was confused, she was having some mixed up feelings about PC Khan but surely to her this wasn’t a particularly significant meeting. Her voice suggested otherwise. Perhaps Jenny was just imagining what she wanted to hear in PC Khan’s tone.

“Same to you, PC Kh- wait, what’s your name? Sorry, I mean your name, like your first name, not title. Can’t believe we got this far without my asking.”

“It’s Yaz.”

“Brilliant! Nice to meet you Yaz! You can call me Jenny.” Jenny put her hand out, realising mid-action that it was redundant and a bit silly, but Yaz took it and shook.

The bell rang and they let go as a group of students pushed by to get to the lab.

“I really have to go,” Yaz said, backing up towards the stairs.

“So do I!” Jenny nodded towards the door. “Bye, Yaz!”

“See you, Jenny!” Yaz was off down the stairs.

Jenny lingered, until Yaz disappeared from sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Yaz slid into her car seat and shut the door. She stared out at the school football fields, took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

Slapping her hands against her pockets, she felt for the envelope she had carried for the past two months and took it out. With a pang she noticed her address was written in the same purple ink from the pen on Jenny’s desk. Yaz ran her fingers along the softened edges and across the crumpled surface of the paper. She opened the envelope, removed and unfolded the letter enclosed. She began to read the words she'd read a hundred times before.

 

Dear Yaz,

 

You’re probably wondering where I’ve got to. I’m sorry I’ve left you hanging, something came up.

I’ve had to go into hiding. It’s a bit of a long story and it’s going to get complicated, so sit down and read this carefully. It should all make sense by the end.

While you were gone, I went to a junk planet to look for some spare parts for the TARDIS. Usually junk planets are deserted, save the odd scavenger like me. This one wasn’t. I stumbled upon a small community of a species I’ve never met before (very exciting!!), they called themselves Wynyor. I thought no one had tried interacting with them before, they weren’t easy to spot, they sort of blend in with the landscape and they seemed a little stunned when I came close to their home.

The Wynyor have always lived on that planet, they’ve never left and they didn’t seem to know much about the rest of the universe. They were pretty brilliant engineers though! They had all sorts of funky inventions. I introduced myself (always happy to make new friends, Yaz!) and they showed me some of the things they’d collected off the planet. Most of it was just trinkets and waste but then they showed me a vortex manipulator. That’s a device used by Time Agents to travel in the time vortex, a bit like the TARDIS but a hell of a lot less sexy. It generally only transports one person at a time and will probably make you sick on arrival. Cheap and nasty. Would not recommend.

Anyway, I explained to the Wynyor what it was and how it worked (in hindsight I may have got carried away on an explanation, I didn’t know anything about them and time travel is dangerous in the wrong hands. But you know how I get when I’m excited), the vortex manipulator they had was broken, the battery was damaged and it only had a couple of (probably very rough) trips left in it. They were excited about it though. Being stuck on a junk planet your whole existence will do that to you.

Then I found out a bit more about the Wynyor. They have very short life spans, about 5 years. Time and how you use it is subjective, I mean 80 years is normal to you in the same way hundreds are to me but even the Wynyor knew how little time it was. They cycle through generations very quickly and it’s difficult for them to reproduce. Their small community keeps getting smaller.

Things took a turn when one of them realised the name ‘Doctor’ was familiar. They had some bare bones info on me, but they knew I could travel in time and space and they knew about regeneration. I suspected I wasn’t the first to meet the Wynyor and then I found the wrecked ship of the last folks that did. I found their remains.

The Wynyor think I have some secret to living forever and they were desperate to know what I was hiding. It got ugly from there, let’s leave it at that.

While I was trying to diffuse the situation some of them tried to take the TARDIS, but thankfully I got to her first. We escaped, then the TARDIS alerted me they were following. Somehow they latched onto her. We shook them off long enough to come up with a plan. I’m not sure what the Wynyor intend to do to find the secret to regeneration but I'm sure it won’t be nice. And the TARDIS is a prize by herself, you know. Everyone would want her if they knew what she could do.

So here’s the plan.

First of all, Yaz, everything’s going to be fine.

The TARDIS can hide herself, block everything out, make it as if she doesn’t exist. She’s all set.

I’m a bit different. It’s not just a matter of hiding somewhere safe until the coast is clear. The Wynyor don’t see, not in the human sense of sight, so a disguise wouldn’t do the trick but they do sense things. They recognise materials, again not by any normal sense a human could relate to. You might say it’s a bit like an aura! They know my DNA, and they would know it when they found me.

I can’t be recognised as a Time Lord, so I’m turning myself human. Just for a little while!

I know you’re probably proper confused right now, let me explain. I’m using something called a Chameleon Arch. I hook myself up to it, switch it on and it rewrites my DNA, every cell. I will appear human in every way. Human body, human brain, human habits! The difficult thing is while I’m human I won’t remember being a Time Lord, or anything about my real life. Including you.

The TARDIS will make a human identity for me on Earth with all the wonderful normal things that come with that life. She can factor you in Yaz, when she creates this life for me. I’ve asked her not to.

Please don’t be cross.

I need you to trust me when I say it’s safer and easier for the both of us if we’re separated during all this. Not just because of the Wynyor. That human with my face won’t really be me at all. Experience tells me it’s less complicated if you don’t meet her. I’m sorry, Yaz.

Once that’s in order, the TARDIS will emit a signal to hopefully lure the Wynyor to Earth. Once they realise neither me or the TARDIS are there, they should leave and go back home, knowing they might get stranded if the vortex manipulator stops working altogether. All they have is each other after all, and I’d imagine a place like Earth to be a bit overwhelming after where they come from.

I’m not sure about the timing with all this, how long it’ll take for the TARDIS to set things up and send out the signal, and of course the Wynyor’s vortex manipulator is unlikely to be on time. A few weeks I’d say. Maybe a month. Definitely not much longer than that though! I hope.

Anyway, when the Wynyor have been and gone, the TARDIS will find you and take you to me. There will be a fob watch in my possession, or human me’s, inside it is me basically, the Doctor! Everything I am. When it’s time, you’re to open it and I’ll become the Doctor you know and love again! Then I’ll take you somewhere amazing to make up for all of this.

Once she’s got her set up the TARDIS will send some details about my new identity to your phone. Just in case. I think you have the good judgement to know what ‘just in case’ means. Human me will be fine, you don’t have to worry about her at all. So don’t.

Think of this as a break, from the daft old nutter you’ve been knocking about with the last few months. It’ll be good for you to have some human time I’m sure. Readjust to Earth time, you can get your sleep schedule back on track! Spend some time with your family and go out with your friends, go to work, learn to knit!

Enjoy yourself! Please do that at least. You don’t need a TARDIS to have fun (though she certainly helps!)

Just remember Yaz, leave the human me alone. It’s all going to be fine!

Thank you for all your help. I’ll see you soon.

 

With love, 

the Doctor

 

Yaz held the paper tight. The edges of her eyes stung. She shouldn’t have come to the school. The Doctor was so clear about her wishes and Yaz ignored them. She trusted her to do the right thing, and the guilt was eating away at her.

But when was the Doctor coming back? They were past her estimate now and nothing was different. How was she supposed to leave Jenny like that? She isn’t the Doctor, but she is there, living and feeling like anyone else. Yaz couldn’t pretend there was no reason to worry when she believed Jenny was unhappy.

But this was what the Doctor wanted. Yaz had gone too far. This was as far as she would go.

She had to trust the Doctor, trust that it wouldn’t be long until everything changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There wasn't going to be a chapter this week because I'm moving tomorrow and I spent the last few days getting my life together. This only got written because I spent all evening waiting around for a guy to come take my toaster off my hands, so cheers to that lad for being vague on timing!  
> Thank you for reading!  
> My tumblr is lovekernel as well if you're interested :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note, Arachnids in the UK didn't happen in this universe and Yaz's mum doesn't know the Doctor beyond her popping by to drop Yaz off. Thank you for reading!

On her day off, Yaz somehow got roped into the weekly shop with her mum, after being guilted with how little time Najia had spent with her daughter lately. Though, as Sonya quipped, and she was actually right this time, it’s not like Yaz had anything better to do.

“How’s work?” Najia asked her in the supermarket. Yaz steered the trolley while her mum walked ahead to drop things in.

“Fine, a bit boring, but it’s fine.”

“How was that presentation at Redlands the other day? You never said.”

“I inspired a generation to join the police.”

Najia laughed. “Well done.”

“Thank you! Nah, it was fine. I didn’t mess it up.”

Najia pulled a box off the shelf and stopped suddenly, staring right ahead.

“What?” Yaz asked her. Her mum’s face turned to confusion, still holding cornflakes aloft.

“Is that…?”

Yaz followed her eyeline down to the back wall of the shop. She had a jolt of panic. There, in the freezer section, was Jenny.

“That’s the Doctor, isn’t it?”

Yaz shook her head and turned the trolley in the opposite direction. “Nah, just someone who looks like her.”

Najia stayed put. “Yaz, that’s definitely the Doctor. Shall we go say hello?”

“No! It’s not her, Mum. I don’t know who that is.”

“What’s this attitude?”

Yaz sighed and turned the trolley back. “Sorry. But really, that’s not her.”

“Alright.” Najia looked back at Jenny curiously. “No, you’re right, I’ve never seen the Doctor without her big long coat. You should let her know she’s got a doppelganger though, because that’s a bizarre resemblance.”

“Will do.” Yaz followed her mum down the aisle, watching Jenny lean right down into a freezer, one of her legs sticking out behind her.

“You haven’t mentioned her in a while.”

Yaz kept one eye on the blonde head in the distance. As much as she’d love to run into her, she promised herself she’d avoid it. She really didn’t think it would be this difficult, what were the chances of seeing her here? And with her mum?

“Yaz?”

“What?”

“The Doctor. Haven’t heard anything about her from you in ages, did something happen?”

“Nope. Everything’s good.”

“Where is she then?”

Yaz had an excuse prepared. She didn’t spend much time away with the Doctor, but knew her absence from her life would soon enough become apparent to her family, at the very least her mother. “She’s gone travelling for a while. She’ll be back.”

“Do you know when she’ll be back?”

The hope in her mum’s voice surprised Yaz. She thought she disapproved of the Doctor. Yaz knew it bothered her mum how little Yaz shared about what they did together. “I really don’t. You know her… hasn’t got much sense of timing.”

Najia scoffed. “I don’t actually know her, Yaz, I’ve only met her a few times when she’s dropping you off from goodness knows where.”

“Yeah, well, that last time was at 2am.” Yaz shrugged. “So you know, bad at timing.”

“Oh, she deserves all the blame?”

“She drove.” Sort of.

They didn’t speak as they went down the bread aisle and Yaz hoped her mum might have dropped the topic of the Doctor, until Najia suddenly stopped walking and turned to face her. “Is that what this is then?”

“What do you mean?”

Najia gestured above Yaz’s head. “That dark cloud hanging over you the last few weeks. You miss her.”

“I’m fine, Mum.”

“You used to be all lit up. All the time, ever since you met her. She made you happy.”

Yaz didn’t miss what her mum was implying about her and the Doctor's relationship, but chose to ignore it. “She still does. She’s not dead, Mum, just far away.”

“You’re allowed to miss her, Yaz. As strange as she is, she is your... close friend, and it’s perfectly fine for you to be sad that she’s gone.”

Yaz didn’t respond, just looked down at the contents of the trolley.

“Don’t bottle it up, whatever you do,” Najia said. “I worry about you in that job. I know it’s all boring stuff now but it can get quite intense, and I don’t want you to get into the habit of keeping it all inside. You already seem hardened.”

“You kind of need to be on the job.”

“On the job, yes. In the rest of your life you can drop the act. You can drop it with me, at least.”

Yaz finally met her mother’s eyes, they were watching her as if she could read her mind.

“Can I wait in the car? The light’s flickering in here, giving me a headache. I’ll help get the bags in.”

Najia sighed, shook her head and smiled. “Sure, love. I’ll see you out there.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

  


Caught in a choice between peas and sweetcorn, Jenny looked to the ceiling and tried to remember how much space she had left in her freezer. She took her chances and dropped both bags to the basket at her feet, picked it up and headed towards the eggs. She caught sight of a dark mane of hair down near the front of the supermarket, the owner’s head turned and she realised it was Yaz. Jenny’s heart took a leap. Yaz looked so different in her civilian clothes, even her posture. She was straight-backed the whole time at the school, here she leaned lazily over the bar on her trolley.

Jenny didn’t think she would ever see her again, though her mind got away from her thinking up excuses to visit the police station ever since they met. This was one of those opportunities the universe so rarely granted. She should show her thanks by going over and saying hello.

Jenny took a step forward, then Yaz started speaking to someone, an older woman. Must be her mum, they look so alike. Looked like they were in a serious discussion. Jenny looked away and opened a box of eggs to check for cracks. There goes that. She wouldn’t have gone over with Yaz’s mum there anyway. Far too much pressure.

She thought back to her chat with Sarah at lunch a few days ago, of which Yaz became the main topic.

“So, Jenny. What do you look for in your ideal partner?”

Not one to beat around the bush, that Sarah. “Why are you asking?”

“I was thinking I could set you up, if you’d like?”

“I don’t need to be set up…”

“Just for fun then, what do you like?”

“I’m not sure about any exact characteristics.”

“PC Khan.”

“What about her?”

“Someone like her?”

How about just her? “I liked her.”

“What did you like about her?”

Everything. “I… have a class now.”

When Jenny dared another glance in Yaz and her mother’s direction, Yaz was gone.

Just before Jenny darted off and away from that uncomfortable conversation, Sarah grabbed her sleeve. “Yaz likes women.” She winked and let go. “Just so you know.” In that moment Jenny wondered how Sarah knew for sure that either of them liked women, and how on earth that information could be any good to her after the day they met. What were the chances they would ever meet again?

Jenny went towards the front of the shop, hoping she might run into Yaz on the way. She didn’t, and she packed her groceries thinking she had wasted yet another opportunity. There was no way she could get that lucky again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was thinking on Najia's knowledge of the Doctor, I realised it doesn't make much difference to this story whether Najia and the Doctor got stuck together in a hotel full of giant spiders because as far as we know Najia and the rest of Yaz's family don't know what Yaz and the Doctor do together. And we don't know what Yaz told her mum when she came back with the bread like she said she would at the end of Arachnids in the UK, but she must have come back because she was around for her grandmother's birthday, it's not like her, Ryan and Graham all went away for good, they only seem to be travelling with the Doctor part-time. I love series 11 but this stuff I can't ignore! Very few important conversations that needed to be had happened, lots of gaps were left. Sorry about the ramble, thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's day! Thank you for the comments and feedback on the other chapters! They're invaluable to me, and I appreciate them very much :D Thanks for reading!

After thinking about the situation logically, Jenny put Yaz out of her mind; no point at all letting her occupy it. She tried, anyway. There was a constant buzz of ‘what if’ in the background, ignoring it didn’t change the fact it was there.

She had distractions at least. Work, mostly. She always threw herself into teaching, it was so easy and she had a true passion for it. Most of the time. If she let her enthusiasm slip for just a moment, she found herself bored. Jenny felt as if she could do more, there was so much more to share than what came in a textbook.

A restlessness had got into her, and she couldn’t pinpoint why. She loved Sheffield, there was no reason she could think of to leave, she just felt she had to get away. No time for that, though, with work and everything. That was her excuse anyway. The instinct pulling Jenny away from Sheffield fought against a stronger force that kept her rooted to the spot. Again, there was no reason for that either. 

So puzzling, yet she never thought on it very long.

She had been having lots of dreams lately. Nightmares, about monsters she didn’t recognise. Jenny woke feeling as if she had a duty to fulfil. Those things she dreamt of weren’t just an imagined threat that vanished the moment she woke, but a danger in the waking world, and somehow it was her responsibility to do something about it.

The thought that she was needed made Jenny feel sick with guilt for not doing anything. Guilt based only on things she imagined. Dreams aren’t real, Jenny knew that, but she also thought they held a deeper meaning. She couldn’t stand this sense of responsibility, a part of her desperately wanted to find the source and do something to help. A more dominant part was suppressing it, and reminding her again and again that there was nothing she had to worry about. There was nothing and no one in her life she was responsible for.

When Jenny woke from her dreams the sense of dread and fear never disappeared as quickly as the memory of what caused it, and it was getting worse as time went on.

Every morning over the past week she woke in a panic. She convinced herself none of it was real, and usually by the time she went to the kitchen and made a cup of tea, she’d forgotten the dream completely. There was just a lingering tension left behind.

Until now.

Jenny woke on Friday morning with a perfect sense of calm. 

She couldn’t remember the events of her dreams, but she had one clear and beautiful image left over. 

Yaz. Yaz leaned against a crystal pillar, staring up and away at something, completely lit up with a smile and a dozen warm hues dappled across her face. Jenny’s own hand reaching out towards her, palm up, ready for Yaz to take it, and she did. The image faded through a doorway and a sterile white light took the rest from Jenny’s memory. What she did recall warmed her from the inside. 

Jenny got up from bed and put a hoodie on over her pyjamas, though this morning she barely felt the chill of her flat. Yaz was still there. That smile.

Jenny filled the kettle and switched it on. She poured water over a tea bag and watched the liquid swirl into gold to red to brown. Rubbing her fingers together, the touch of Yaz’s hand was still there, as if she had just let her go, as if their skin had just parted.

It lasted through breakfast, and Jenny’s shower, and as she dressed. Yaz’s eyes shone as Jenny packed her bag and put on her coat and took her bike outside. Yaz flickered behind her eyelids as Jenny cycled to the school.

The spell was broken by the first class. 

Jenny stayed focused throughout the day and gave the students her full attention as always, but then at the end of it she was alone with nothing left to busy herself with, and Yaz was back on her mind. She didn’t fight it despite her previous efforts to avoid thoughts of PC Khan. Still, as she cycled home she questioned it. 

Was it normal to think so much about someone you barely knew? Was it normal to dream of them?

Maybe it wasn’t normal but it felt natural. That was the strange thing, Jenny noticed. The way she felt about Yaz, it wasn’t new. It felt comfortable, not in a way that didn’t scare and excite her, it most certainly did. More like comfortable as if she had had time to get used to feeling this way about Yaz.

But she had only met her once! And not even a fortnight ago, since which she had seen Yaz once and only from a distance. All she knew of her was based on a single meeting. How on earth could she feel so strongly? It was baffling. 

The worst part was knowing it could never go anywhere. Jenny knew she would never see Yaz again. 

She had to get a handle on her thoughts, and dreams for that matter. Trouble was, Jenny felt as if both were far out of her control. 

She pondered that thought for a moment. She came to a hill and stopped pedalling, relaxing her grip on the handlebars, and let gravity take her down. Yaz flashed before her again. That was the last thing she saw before the car. Jenny braked at the same time as the driver but it was too late, and the bumper collided with her front wheel. Both Jenny and her bike went flying. They landed and scraped along the tarmac before coming to a stop in the middle of the road.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is short, the next part of the story is quite busy and has a very different atmosphere. I wanted this bit to exist on its own. Thanks very much for reading, sorry about the long wait!


	7. Chapter 7

Holding the laser gun loosely in her hands, Yaz stared at the speed readings of passing cars. She was so tired and bored in the warm car that her eyes kept closing by themselves. Every time her chin dipped forward just a bit too far she jolted back to focus on the task, and the cycle repeated over and over.

The passenger door opened and she was hit with a cold wind before her partner Jack got inside. “Did I miss any action?”

“Not at all. What kept you?”

“Long line.” Jack handed over the paper coffee cup, swapping it for the laser gun. “I’ll take over.”

“Thank you.” Yaz wrapped both hands around her drink and sunk down into the seat, letting out a sigh.

“Shift’s almost over, anyway,” Jack said. 

“Can’t wait to go home, I’m knackered.”

As if to tease her, Yaz’s radio crackled and a voice from the station came on, informing them of an incident nearby involving a cyclist and a car. Already Yaz knew this was going to make them late back to the station, it was the usual beginning to her having to break up a row in the middle of the road. She did not have the energy for it right now.

Herself and Jack left their post and went to the address given, gearing themselves up for the usual nonsense that came with Friday evenings. The incident happened on a quiet residential street joining onto a main road, so the main objective was to get it cleared up before rush hour began. Yaz scanned the scene as she pulled the car up, trying to work out what the problem was. She could see a red hatchback stopped in the road, and knew they were in the right place.  

They stepped out and looked around. A man was standing by the curb, looking down at a woman sitting there, who Yaz realised immediately was very familiar. 

“Doc- Jenny!” At the sight of her friend sitting hunched over with her head hanging over her knees, Yaz was sprinting across the road. 

At the sound of her name Jenny looked up and saw a blurry figure approaching her at speed and then suddenly they were kneeled down beside her. “Jenny, you alright?”

Jenny’s mouth fell open. She wasn’t expecting Yaz. Totally out of the blue, at the first time that day she wasn’t on her mind.

“We didn’t call the police,” the driver said. “I almost called an ambulance but not the police.”

Yaz ignored his babbling and studied Jenny, who was staring vacantly at her through half-open eyes. “Jenny? You remember me? Yaz, PC Khan, from the school?” She could hear the worry come right through her voice. “Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?”

Jenny focused on Yaz’s face through the dizzy haze she just couldn’t shake. She felt something like… she didn’t know how to describe it, and her brain wasn’t making connections as quickly as it should. Deja vu? Jenny couldn’t push the idea further, her head hurt and now her heart was pounding even faster than when she fell, and she wasn’t sure of the cause anymore.

Jenny finally answered. “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Yaz looked between her and the man. “What happened?”

As the driver launched into an explanation that began with his trip to the dentist, Yaz knew she had a moment to look at Jenny properly. She was still staring up at the man as he spoke, her eyebrows furrowed. Yaz could see some scratches just behind Jenny’s hair. She reached out to hook a finger around the sweep of hair and move it back. 

Jenny saw something in her peripheral, as soon as she registered it properly it touched her forehead and she jumped at the contact. She realised it was only Yaz’s hand and relaxed, but Yaz had already taken it back and was now looking at her seriously. Guiltily.  

“Sorry,” Yaz said. “I’m so sorry.” She slipped up, thinking this was just her friend, the Doctor. Forgetting the reality of the situation. She would never touch some random civilian like that without asking. “I’m just looking, stop me if you’d like.” 

Jenny nodded her consent, and Yaz slowly and gently tucked her hair back behind her ear, revealing a bloody graze above Jenny’s temple, dirtied and blackened in parts by the road. 

“Ouch,” Yaz whispered.

Jack’s footsteps came up behind her. Yaz hadn’t noticed he’d disappeared, not since she saw Jenny. He introduced himself to those involved as PC Hillard.

“It was a neighbour here that called us,” he informed them. “He told me what he saw, thought it looked rather serious.”

“What happened?” Yaz asked again.

“I just told you!” the driver said. “For god’s sake. Am I in trouble?”

“Sorry, sir, I, uh...” Yaz started with no idea of how she intended to finish, still watching Jenny carefully. She looked back at her partner. “Jack, can you…?”

“Yes. Please sir, for our records, can you repeat to me what you told PC Khan?” Jack led the man away from the curb, leaving Yaz and Jenny on their own. 

“Right.” Yaz was glad she could finally focus on Jenny alone. “You alright?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Yaz, he just told you…”

“Jenny, I’m trying to assess your head injury. Humor me, please. Tell me everything you can remember.”

Jenny sighed and her eyebrows creased as she found the words. Reality was sinking in. This was Yaz, actual Yaz, the woman she had been dreaming about. The woman she thought she would never see again. And she was in a heap on the side of the road, a state about as bad as they get. “I was coming home from work… came down this hill. Uh, the car pulled out after the stop sign. He didn’t see me and I was going too fast to stop and I came speeding down in front of him. We both braked a bit too late.” She winced as she remembered the shock of hitting the ground.

“He hit you?” Yaz asked, looking around for the perpetrator. He was giving Jack an earful, as if this was a terrible inconvenience to him. Well, Yaz didn’t know that, it’s not like she could hear them, but he looked the type. The exaggerated hand gestures gave him away.

“We’re both to blame,” Jenny said when Yaz looked back. “And he hit my bike, not me.”

Yaz rolled her eyes. That’s exactly the sort of deflection the Doctor would use, and would drive Yaz mad. “You got knocked off, though?

“... Yeah.”

Yaz looked ahead of where the car was left, trying to estimate how rough the impact could have been. “Where’s your bike?”

“Um…” Jenny looked around. “Oh yeah, I moved it. It’s there.” She pointed to a bush at the end of the street, quite close to them. Yaz could only see a wheel sticking out of the leaves.

“I just threw it there when I got up. Didn’t want it to get run over.”

“Alright, okay. Were you wearing a helmet?” Yaz knew if this were the Doctor she was speaking to the answer would be…

“No.” Jenny looked down at her knees. “Don’t go on about it.”

“You don’t want to know the horror stories I’ve heard…” Yaz stopped herself when Jenny looked up bashfully.

“Trust me, I won’t do it again.” 

“Do you know what day it is?”

“Yes,” Jenny replied, rubbing the uninjured side of her head.

“And?”

“It’s Friday.”

“Great. Prime Minister?”

“Theresa May,” Jenny said, though she didn’t look sure about it. Yaz was reminded of the times her and the Doctor landed in other places and times and the Doctor sifted through a few names until she remembered which one belonged to the person in power. Time travel did that. So did concussion.

“How many of these do you have?” Jenny asked her. 

“I could think up some more but I’ll save you the trouble. Is it just your head, does it hurt anywhere else?”

Jenny looked down and waved her hand. “Bumps and bruises.”

“You must’ve been going at a crazy speed, I’m surprised at how okay you are. Think you should definitely get checked out at A&E though.”

Jenny lifted her head, suddenly alert. 

“Head injuries are tricky, always better safe than sorry,” she continued. “We’ll give you a lift there.”

Jenny shook her head quickly and swallowed.  “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” The last thing she wanted was a bigger fuss than had already been made, and the idea of tests and people poking at her made her anxious. “I’m fine, Yaz, seriously.”

Yaz was about to question the obvious panic Jenny was displaying, then a hand touched her shoulder. 

“We’re all done here,” Jack said, lowering himself down to their level. “Just an accident, unless anyone wants to press it further…” He looked to Jenny, but she was staring down at the ground, breathing heavily. “We’ll take you to the hospital to get checked out.”

“No…” She kept shaking her head. “I don’t want to.”

“Just hold on a minute, Jack.” Yaz wondered if this was another defense mechanism that came with Jenny to protect the Doctor from being discovered. Should Jenny go to the hospital? The Doctor had said before that a Time Lord’s body was valuable, the reason she was hiding in the first place was hostile aliens after the secrets of regeneration. Yaz knew Jenny was supposed to appear human, how far did that go? How much could the Chameleon Arch change about the Doctor’s body and still allow her to change back to exactly as she was before? If this was the TARDIS’s programming of a refusal to be examined, Yaz thought, she certainly had some good reasons for it.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.” Jenny did her best to sound lucid and confident, but her voice shook. “I feel fine, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You feel fine now,” Jack said gently. “That can change quite quickly, Ms…”

“Song,” Yaz supplied. 

“Ms. Song. Best we get you looked at and make sure you’re alright.”

“I’ve already said. I don’t want to go,” Jenny said firmly.

“If she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t have to.” Even as she said it Yaz knew that those words would never otherwise come out of her mouth. She just prayed Jack wouldn’t think the same.

Jack turned his head, he and Yaz were eye to eye as he spoke only to her. “If something happens to her after this because she didn’t get checked out, it’ll be on us.”

She knew he was right, and in any other scenario she would think exactly the same, but this wasn’t just anyone they were discussing, Yaz wasn’t sure the risks were the same. She wasn’t sure of anything here or the correct way to act as both a policewoman and the Doctor’s friend. “She has the right to refuse treatment.”

“We’re not supposed to encourage her,” Jack hissed. He addressed Jenny, watching them uncomfortably. “Listen, we’ll take you to the hospital, you’ll see a doctor and we can ensure that you are alright and then we can call this case closed, okay?”

Yaz watched Jenny think it over, hoping she would still refuse. Or not. She wasn’t sure, this body was the Doctor’s, she had to keep it safe, but then the Doctor wouldn’t be stopped by a bump on the head, and hopefully that was all this was, so would Jenny be okay? So much to think about. Yaz wondered if this was the sort of thing the Doctor was talking about when she said it was best they stayed apart. 

Jenny knew she was on the edge of unreasonable but she couldn’t help it. The thought of the hospital and everything that came with it made her already stressed and confused state about ten times worse. All she wanted was to go home, curl up in bed and pretend nothing happened. The conversation she witnessed between Yaz and her partner changed things though. Jenny was already such a mess and Yaz had to see it, she wasn’t going to make things even worse by being the reason she got in trouble later. She made her decision, looked Yaz right in the eye, and spoke.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

“Great!” Jack stood up. “We’ll be in touch,” he called to the driver who was just getting back into his car. “Let’s go. I’ll get the car started.”

Yaz stood and put her hands out for Jenny to help her up. Jenny hesitated before she took them, her hands were shaking badly from a mixture of shock and other confusing emotions, but she accepted Yaz’s hands and let her pull her to stand. 

Yaz felt the tremor before she let go, and replaced her hand on Jenny’s arm as soon as she was up.

“You alright?” she asked her as they took the first unsteady steps towards the car.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a bit shaky,” Jenny said, even as the world tilted before her eyes. She was determined to make this as undramatic as possible. She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Yaz. “I was just in an accident you know.” She forced a smile, but one look at Yaz’s face made it easy. 

“I’m glad you’re taking it seriously,” Yaz said, returning Jenny’s grin. “You sure about this though? You really don’t have to.” 

“Yeah, it’s fine. Better safe than sorry. And it’ll make your partner there feel better, so that’s a bonus.”

“Sorry about him. He’s very… efficient.”

“I’m sure that quality makes a great police officer.”

“Yeah,” Yaz said thoughtfully as she opened the door to the backseat for Jenny. “Actually, he is a whiz at paperwork.”

“Care and empathy are good traits as well,” Jenny said as soon as she sat down. She looked up at Yaz, blinking in the fading sunlight. “That’s probably what makes you so good.”

Jenny shut the door before Yaz could answer, leaving her to wonder how Jenny could know how good she was from just one example. Still, Yaz thought as she got in the front, she’d take the compliment anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the previous end note was misleading, when I said different atmosphere I meant dialogue-heavy back and forth between the gals vs. Jenny on her own thinking about Yaz for an entire chapter, as opposed to killing/maiming Jenny (the climax is a few chapters away at least!) I really liked how the last chapter felt and I wanted it separate from the stress of this chapter, but if you feel hard done by, I apologise!
> 
> And while I've got you, a gentle reminder to always wear a helmet, because when you're unlucky, brain injuries are devastating, and when you are lucky, there's no mark of shame quite like road rash across your forehead. Especially under the gaze of a Halford's cashier as you hand them your new head gear. But mostly because we don't all have the luxury of regeneration- wear a helmet. Thanks very much for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been a minute! Thank you for reading!

Jenny awkwardly shrugged off her backpack and looked around the police car. Yaz reminded her to put on her seatbelt and once she had Jenny sat back and stared at the baby hairs curling against Yaz’s neck. That funny deja vu again.

Yaz’s eyes found Jenny’s in the rearview mirror. Her cheeks rose in a reassuring smile.

So she had to go to the hospital, that’s an ordeal Jenny would rather not face. On the bright side, she was in a car with Yaz. Arguably, things could be a lot worse. Jenny could have just died, for instance.

She thought she would never get so lucky to see Yaz again. Maybe even now, despite the accident, the stars had aligned in her favour.

Jenny laughed, out of the blue. Yaz, alarmed by any noise from the backseat, twisted around but Jenny was just sitting there grinning dazedly. Despite her worry, Yaz had to smile at the sight. “What’s up?”

Jenny focused on her, softened. “The universe must really want us to be together.”

Yaz’s heart almost stopped. Jenny sounded just like the Doctor then. She shook that thought away and let out a laugh. “I guess so, yeah.”

Yaz faced front and Jenny realised what she said. Her cheeks flared and she looked out the window, for a distraction from the woman in the passenger seat.

Jack side-eyed Yaz. “So, how do you two know each other?” he said, projecting the question to Jenny as well.

“We just met the once,” Yaz replied. “That career day at Redlands, Jenny’s a teacher.”

“Oh yeah? What do you teach?”

“Biology,” Jenny said.

“Hm,” he looked over at Yaz and smirked, “I would’ve guessed chemistry.”

Yaz sent a glare his way, while Jenny scrunched her nose in the back. “Why’d you think that?”

Jack snorted. “Just a feeling.”

The car stopped at a red light. Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny saw a flash of red hair. She turned and just caught the woman stride around a corner. She thought she saw someone she knew- who, she didn’t know. She felt nauseous as the car took off again.

“Almost there,” PC Hillard said to her.

Outside the hospital, Jenny stepped out of the car and kiltered to one side. Yaz was by her side within seconds but she had already righted herself and started walking.

“Alright?” Yaz asked her as they approached the entrance. She took Jenny’s backpack from her grip and held back from taking her arm, letting her hand hover near her back instead, just in case.

“Absolutely,” Jenny replied.

Inside, Jenny went to the front desk and Yaz let her go on her own, keeping an eye on her confident but unsteady gait. Jack came through the door behind them. “Listen,” Yaz said to him, “You go on. I’ll stay here with Ms. Song.”

“Jenny, you mean?” Jack quirked an eyebrow. “She seems alright on her own.”

Yaz looked around at Jenny talking to the receptionist.

“...But you want to,” she heard Jack say and turned back to him, prepared to protest his suspicions.

“Fair enough,” he said, all his teasing dissolved in a moment. “Do what you need to do.”

“Thanks, Jack.” Yaz knew she was essentially confirming what he thought as truth by not saying anything but honestly, whatever Jack suspected, he wasn’t the type to go on about it. She could set it right later.

He was about to leave but stopped and turned on his heel. “By the way, the driver mentioned something. She said some weird things to him.”

“Weird how?”

“She said she wanted to go home to her ship.”

Yaz could hear her own pulse. She looked over at Jenny, sitting in a plastic chair, staring into space.

“Probably just a bit confused,” Jack continued. “He said she was babbling all sorts, all freaked out- well he thought she was mad but I’d bet it was the shock- he said as well she calmed herself down before we got there. Probably nothing but you could talk to her, maybe mention it to the doctors if you’re worried, might be important.”

“Right...”

“Don’t worry though, I’m sure she’s perfectly normal.” He winked.

Ugh.

“Maybe she used to live by the sea or something, you should ask her.”

“Yeah, sure, I will. I’ll see you tomorrow, Jack.”

He saluted her as he walked out the door. “See ya, Yaz!”

Jenny watched Yaz’s partner leave, curiously without Yaz, and then Yaz came over.

“You off?” Jenny asked her as she put her bag down at her feet. “Thanks for all your help, Yaz.”

“Oh no.” Yaz shook her head. “I’m staying to wait with you. If that’s okay?”

“Don’t you have to get back?”

Yaz removed her hi-vis jacket. “My shift’s done.” She settled into the seat beside Jenny and folded her jacket over her lap.

“Yaz, you don’t have to stay. I mean, you’re so kind but I can do this on my own.”

“I’d sleep better knowing you’re safe. And you know, that driver will want to know you’re okay. I can report back.”

“Right, well... thank you, Yaz. I appreciate it.”

A few minutes passed in silence.

Jenny saw a man walk by holding a helmet, delivering blood. She suddenly sat up. “My bike!”

Yaz jumped. “What?”

“I left it in a bush!”

Yaz relaxed. “Oh, that’s fine, we’ll pick it up later.”

“It might get nicked.”

“I mean, yeah, maybe, but bikes are replaceable. You’re not. It can wait.”

“Hmm.” Jenny crossed her arms and looked around the waiting room, wishing it would empty a bit faster. “I really love that bike.”

Yeah, and I really love you, Yaz thought. An automatic thought, and rather intense to an outsider’s ear, but honest because in that moment Yaz only thought of her best friend, and cared much more about keeping the Doctor’s body safe than Jenny’s bike. What Jenny said to the driver, could the bang on her head affect the Doctor’s cover? Would it show when Jenny was examined? Should Yaz be trying to get Jenny out of here? She wished she knew more about how all this chameleon arch stuff worked, the Doctor’s letter wasn’t very helpful. Then again, Yaz was never supposed to come near Jenny, and she wondered again about the reasons for that too. If only the TARDIS were here, she could find answers to her  questions and maybe not feel so helpless. Everything could very well be about to go horribly wrong.

“Yaz?”

“Yes, Jenny?”

“You alright? You look worried.”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Really? Because if you need to go, you can just go, I’ll be fine.”

“If I leave now, what are the chances you’ll wait five minutes and walk out after me, eh?”

Jenny’s mouth gaped slightly, caught out.

“Yeah,” Yaz said. “That’s what I thought.”

“Really though, you don’t have somewhere to be?”

“I really don’t.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

They fell into silence again.

Jenny left her hands turned up on her lap, covered in dirty cuts. Yaz stared at them thinking of how they used to move over the control panel on the TARDIS, gesture when she spoke. She trusted the Doctor completely but she couldn’t help resenting her for this hardly-watertight plan of hers.

A medic speeding down the corridor in front of them backtracked and stopped, then walked over, making a beeline for Yaz. “Hey stranger!”

All thoughts of the Doctor’s stupid plan vanished from Yaz’s mind as she looked up at the nurse.

“Hi, Anna!” said Yaz, stunned. “How are you?”

Jenny tuned in as soon as she heard the obviously affected cheer in Yaz’s tone. It was hard to miss the loaded energy between the two women, even for her.

“Fine!” Anna said. “Busy though, got a man down here impaled by a bit of gate.”

Yaz laughed a strange high-pitched laugh. “Lovely!”

“Indeed! And I really have to go see to him.” Anna put her hand on Yaz’s shoulder and Jenny noticed her tense slightly, only because she was so close to her. “It’s good to see you, Yaz. We should catch up when you’ve got the time.”

“Absolutely! See you, Anna!”

Yaz watched her go, and Jenny saw her face as Anna retreated, that of relief.

“So,” Jenny said. “Come here often?”

Yaz laughed and shook her head. “Only very occasionally, and only as a chaperone, for types such as yourself.”

She turned her body towards Jenny and Jenny noticed how she stayed upright and attentive to her surroundings, off duty but still in uniform, it must be like a switch she could turn on and off.

“Except one time, I broke my wrist playing football. Slipped in some mud and landed badly.”

Jenny winced sympathetically. “Who’s Anna then?”

“Ah.” Yaz scratched her eyebrow. She didn’t tell the Doctor about that encounter. The Doctor was the reason it happened. “Myself and Anna had a bit of a fling. Ages ago.”

“Oh,” Jenny said, her voice lifting an octave but hopefully concealing the celebratory fireworks going off in her head. “She seems nice.”

“Then you know about as much about her as I do. It was just one night.”

Jenny nodded, not sure how to respond. She was still thinking rainbows. Sarah was right.

“I don’t usually do that,” Yaz said nervously, watching cogs turn behind Jenny’s eyes. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it! I don’t have anything against one-night-stands,” she said quickly. “I just- it was a mad moment. For me.”

She released a big breath. Yaz hadn’t thought about this in a while. Of course it would come back to bite her while the Doctor was there. No, not the Doctor. Jenny. On that note, was the Doctor going to remember all this when she came back? Perhaps something to worry about later.

Just the sight of Anna sent Yaz back months ago, not long after she started travelling with the Doctor.

She couldn’t help what happened. On the TARDIS watching that amazing being twirl around in the most beautiful settings Yaz could never have even imagined before she met her- she couldn’t help the way she felt.

It was inevitable, Yaz was sure. She couldn’t possibly be the first to fall for the Doctor. And really there was nothing wrong with how she felt. Except the consequences. The fear that it would complicate everything. Fear of rejection, mostly. She was only human- that was the big problem.

The Doctor seemed so close sometimes, so familiar and easy to Yaz so soon after they met. And quite a lot of the time she was an incredible alien with different experience, such a long life and so much in her head, that Yaz felt sure nothing could ever come of her attraction.

She knew the Doctor cared for her, but Yaz had to drop herself back into reality and remember the difference between the Doctor’s life on the TARDIS and her own life she whisked her away from. At that time the idea of leaving her life behind, her job and family, even with the promise of everywhere and any time she wanted, was mad. When the Doctor dropped her back for a visit and a few shifts at work, she was truly grounded to that fact.  Rationally Yaz knew she wanted both her normal life on earth and the TARDIS, but she felt helpless to her ties to the Doctor, she just wanted more and more. At home and thinking only of the Doctor, Yaz needed something raw to tear that time lord out of her head for a while, and escorting an elderly man involved in an assault to A&E she saw Anna. Beautiful and perfectly ordinary. Exactly what Yaz needed. After helping each other with notes, and about four minutes of conversation, Yaz swallowed her fear and asked Anna out for a drink.

When she knocked on the door of the TARDIS the next morning, late after leaving Anna’s flat, the Doctor engulfed her in a hug as if they’d been away from each other for years. It felt like it to Yaz. Anna was the escape she needed and she forgot completely, just for a little while, everything she left behind in the TARDIS. It smacked her all over again when the Doctor pressed their bodies together and babbled excitedly in her ear. She came away commenting that Yaz smelled different. Yaz said nothing, and she didn’t have to. The Doctor was off on a tangent about the pheromones of alien species and off on another adventure. Yaz decided then and there if she was going to join her, have her own life and keep it that way, she had to leave her feelings at the door.

She did.

It should’ve been hard to drop it all at once, but Yaz wanted travels with the Doctor more than she needed the risks to love her. Any relationship with the Doctor was infinitely better than losing everything over a crush. Logical, a bit cold maybe, but the best decision.

“So you’re gay?”

Jenny’s voice startled Yaz back to the waiting room. She laughed at the blunt question and how happily Jenny had just spat it out. She was beaming, waiting patiently for an answer.

“Bisexual, yeah.”

“That’s brilliant,” Jenny said, sincerely.

Exactly like the Doctor would’ve said it. Exactly how she did say it, when Yaz told her after the tale of her first kiss.

“How about you, Jenny?” Yaz had no idea what the answer could be. There’s power in the words you identify with. The Doctor knew that, she called herself ‘the Doctor’, but on the other hand she could never have a neat little label to sum up her sexuality. A very human thing, Yaz mused. But this wasn’t the Doctor, Jenny actually was a human sharing her face.

“Oh big question, Yaz! I never really thought of it much, to be honest. I kind of just am, you know? And who I am doesn’t seem to have a preference based on gender. As far as I know, it’s early days yet. Do you see what I mean?”

“I do,” Yaz said. “I think that’s brilliant.”

Jenny chuckled, a little pink in the cheek. “Thank you.”

“Jenny Song?” a voice called from the edge of the waiting area.

Yaz spotted the medic and stood up. “Come on, that’s your cue.”

Jenny reluctantly followed Yaz and the doctor through to a cubicle. Yaz could see her begin to tense up like she did before and she was slow trailing behind them. She whispered to the medic, “She doesn’t like hospitals, she might be a bit difficult.”

He winked confidently, “No problem.” He held the curtain open as Jenny came through. “Just hop up on the trolley there and we’ll take a quick look at you. I’m Dr. Ma.”

Jenny looked begrudgingly at the bed, and then at Yaz as if it was her fault they were there, before she followed the order. Yaz sat down next to her, leaving enough space for the doctor to get around and hoping the proximity would put Jenny at ease instead of spectating from behind the doctor.

“You’re staying?” Dr. Ma asked Yaz.

“Yes,” both women answered simultaneously. He nodded approvingly and addressed the patient.

“Okay if I call you Jenny?”

“That’s my name.”

“Alright, so tell me what happened, Jenny.”

“I fell off my bike,” she deadpanned.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” He looked pointedly at Yaz’s uniform and smiled, “I’m sure it’s a good story.”

“It’s not really.

Yaz decided to set the ball rolling. “A car hit her-“

“Bike! He hit my bike. I’m fine.”

“Right. Do you remember the colour of the car?”

Jenny scoffed. “Of course, it was red.”

“Make? Model?”

“I don’t know much about cars on a good day.”

“Today’s not one of those days…? I see you hit your head, you weren’t wearing a helmet?”

Jenny shook her head.

“What happened after you fell?”

“I got up and brought my bike off the road”.

“Straight away?”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t lose consciousness?”

“Yes.”

“Yes you did or yes you didn’t?”

“Did what?”

Dr. Ma sighed and Yaz stepped in. “Did you black out after you hit the ground, Jenny?”

“No. I remember I got up right away because I was on a main road and I didn’t want my bike to get run over.”

“Okay, good.” Dr. Ma made a note. “That’s good. What happened then?”

“Um…” Jenny remembered. As soon as she dumped her bike she heard the driver talking to her, she hadn’t heard him before. Her head spun and she felt sick. She almost fell over but managed to make it to the kerb and put her head between her knees. All the while that man was talking about broken bones and insurance, asking her questions. She only spoke to him so he’d stop but the words that came out didn’t sound right, didn’t quite sound like hers. She was disoriented and couldn’t remember exactly what they talked about, her memories were all a jumble. Until Yaz.

“Jenny?”

Yaz’s voice.

“The doctor asked you something.”

Jenny looked utterly confused, eyes searching.

“Dr. Ma,” Yaz nodded to the man, “asked you a question.”

Jenny looked at him too, seeming to remember where she was. “Sorry! Come again?”

“Have you had any dizziness or nausea?”

“Oh. No.”

Yaz shook her head to Dr. Ma, but she stopped when Jenny looked her way.

“Right, so. We’ll check your blood pressure,” Dr. Ma said, already slipping the cuff over Jenny’s hand and up her arm. “And while that’s going I’ll take a look at your eyes.”

Jenny’s eyes crossed as his pen-light approached her face.

“It’s just a torch, won’t take a moment.” To his credit he did manage to get a good look before Jenny moved her head away from the light. Bless him, Yaz thought. She could sympathise, and Jenny would probably be his easiest case on a Friday evening.

“Hmm,” he said, stepping back. He looked down at the blood pressure monitor and his eyes widened, mouth opened. Yaz was automatically on edge, ready to find an excuse and leave with Jenny at a moment’s notice.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Um, no. Well, uh, it’s just your blood pressure, Jenny- it’s really high.”

Two hearts making themselves known. “She was just in an accident,” Yaz said quickly.

“Yeah, yeah- probably a fluke! A malfunction or something,” He chuckled. “Or an extreme case of white-coat syndrome. Just hang on, I’ll get another reading.” Meanwhile he picked up Jenny’s wrist and took her pulse, seemingly satisfied with his findings. Yaz held her breath, and then the machine beeped.

“Perfectly normal.” Dr. Ma looked a little confused.

“That’s good,” Jenny said. “Can I go now?”

He smiled goodnaturedly and shook his head. “Just a few more things, Jenny.”

Yaz exhaled.

Dr. Ma checked Jenny over completely and deemed her mostly unharmed, besides a mild concussion.

“Will she need to be monitored?” Yaz asked him, “You know, just in case.”

“She should be fine,” he said and looked at Jenny. “Just have someone check in on you during the night- any serious changes, any worries, come back to us. But it really should be fine, you got very lucky.”

Jenny was staring down at Yaz’s shoe, but listening. She nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Just wear a helmet next time, and stay off the bike for a few days- no rigorous activity for the weekend.”

“Thank you,” Jenny said to him, the most sincere thing she’d said since entering the cubicle. She had finally relaxed.

“You’re welcome,” Dr. Ma said. “Just wait for a nurse to come dress your injuries and you’re free to go.”

He left them alone, not without taking the apparently unreliable blood pressure monitor with him. Jenny turned to Yaz, “That actually wasn’t so bad in the end.”

Yaz begged to differ. Right now her blood pressure would probably set off alarms.

Soon Jenny’s wounds were dressed (not by Anna- Yaz thanked her lucky stars) and they were getting ready to leave. Jenny bent over to pick her backpack off the floor and her shirt hung down from her chest. Yaz caught sight of her bra and the curve of her breast, but she was distracted from the familiar pulse in her gut by a thin white line below Jenny’s collarbone as she straightened up.

“How’d you get that scar?” Yaz asked.

Jenny followed her eyeline and tugged on her shirt collar, seeing what Yaz meant, as if for the first time ever. “Dunno, don’t remember.”

“Never noticed it before,” Yaz murmured.

Jenny grinned. “Spend much time staring at my chest?”

Yaz’s brain scrambled, blood rushed to her head. “Oh- my god, no! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-”

Jenny’s face fell. “Yaz, Yaz, Yaz! It’s fine, I shouldn’t have said that, it was inappropriate. I’m really sorry.”

They were both speechless as a moment passed between them. Yaz laughed nervously and Jenny’s smile returned.

“You got everything?”

“Yep!” Jenny pulled on her backpack and overbalanced right away, stumbling forward. Yaz caught her in her arms. Their faces were close all of a sudden, and though the danger was gone Yaz couldn’t bring herself to pull away quite yet. She studied those old hazel eyes for a few seconds.

“Alright?”

“Honestly? So tired,” Jenny admitted.

“Adrenaline finally running out?” Yaz let go of Jenny’s arms, instead resting her hand on her shoulder to lead them towards the exit. “Come on, we’ll get you home soon.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment on the last chapter!

Outside the hospital entrance, Yaz took out her phone. “I’ll get us a taxi-”

“Jenny?”

They both turned and Yaz saw an older woman walking towards them.

“What on earth are you doing here?” she said to Jenny.

“Hi Grace,” she said. “Uh, Yaz, this is my neighbour Grace, she’s a nurse, she works here.”

Yaz gave Grace a little wave, smiling. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” Grace said slowly, eyeing Yaz’s uniform suspiciously. She looked to Jenny again. “What’s happened? Oh, Jenny…” She reached up and turned Jenny’s chin to the side to examine the damage. She looked at Yaz again and back at Jenny. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Jenny said, outraged.

“She came off her bike,” Yaz explained. “Got hit by a car.”

“You what?”

“The bike was hit by a car,” Jenny corrected, as if that would change Grace’s expression of shock. The next time she said that, Yaz was going to scream.

“She’s alright though,” Yaz assured Grace. “Mild concussion. Scrapes and bruises. Amazingly lucky, she was.”

“I’ll say!” Grace looked at Yaz’s uniform again. “So, are you…?”

“We’re friends,” said Yaz. Grace didn’t miss Jenny’s enormous smile in response.

“I got called out to the accident and stayed with Jenny to keep her company. Make sure she was alright.”

“Good, that’s good. Especially because from what I hear, police usually only stick around the hospital when someone’s under arrest.”

Yaz chuckled. “Jenny’s definitely not in any trouble.”

“You never know... bit of a mystery woman, our Jenny.” Grace gave Jenny a teasing smile.

“Anyway, I’m just going to take her home…”

“Oh right.” Grace gestured over her shoulder with her keys. “I could give you a lift?”

“Well, we have to go by the station to pick up my car so…” Yaz hoped desperately Grace wouldn’t suggest the most logical solution and just take Jenny home herself.

“It’s on the way! I’m going by the shops.”

Relief hit Yaz harder than it should have. “Okay, great! Thank you, Grace, that’s very kind.”

“No worries. You ready to go, Jenny?”

Jenny nodded and held two thumbs up. “Thanks, Grace.”

“You look a bit peaky, love. What else did the Doctor say?”

Jenny shrugged, she couldn’t remember the specifics. Yaz filled Grace in instead as they walked across to the car park. They continued chatting as they drove away from the hospital, getting on like a house on fire. Jenny took the opportunity to check out, rested her head against the window and closed her eyes.

“Were you waiting long in the ED?”

Yaz waited for Jenny to answer Grace, but thought she might’ve fallen asleep. “Not sure actually, maybe an hour or so. No complaints though, gave us a chance to get to know each other.”

“Thought you said you were friends?”

“New friends!”

“Oh that’s wonderful! So glad Jen’s finally settling in.”

“Is she asleep?” Yaz poked her head over the seat and Jenny’s eyes were indeed closed.

“Ah, let her doze, she’ll be alright.” There was silence in the car for a few minutes, until Grace spoke hesitantly. “It’s not Yasmin Khan, is it?”

“That’s me, how’d you…You’re Ryan’s gran!”

“The one and only.”

“Haven’t seen Ryan in forever, what’s he up to?”

“He’s training to be a mechanic,” Grace said proudly.

“Brilliant, that’s great! Say hello to him for me.”

“Of course I will. How about you? You seem to have done very well for yourself.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started. Well, actually,” Yaz corrected herself, “I’m pretty much done with my probation period now.” Yaz kept forgetting, she drew out that part of her career with her time on the TARDIS. Now she’d had time to move ahead with it, it was almost over.

“What does that entail?”

“Mostly just boring donkey work until I move up the ranks.” Yaz pointed to Jenny’s sleeping form. “This was the most exciting thing to happen to me all week.” That woman was the most exciting thing to happen all her life really. “I’d like to do more, do some real good, you know?”

Grace smiled. “It’s a good thing you two found each other. I think you’re kindred spirits.”

“Yeah…” Yaz said. “I think so too.”

“You sound a bit like her. She said- when we asked her why she became a teacher- she thought she could do something good with it, to make classes more exciting for students. Get them to love science as much as she did.”

“Hmm.” That sounds a lot like the woman Yaz knew. “So, do you enjoy nursing? You sound perfect for it honestly.”

Grace’s smooth voice slowly became audible as Jenny awoke. She heard Yaz’s laugh and opened her eyes, lifting her head as she remembered where she was.

“Welcome back, Jen! Yaz and I were just talking. She went to school with our Ryan, I knew her when she was small.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” said Yaz. “Weird coincidence, right?”

“Yeah, weird,” Jenny said. She tried to imagine a young Yaz but she could only see her in her police uniform, like a halloween costume. That image somehow morphed to include an older Yaz standing beside the child, holding her hand. Jenny cut the film before she could add another character. She leaned back in her seat, watching the street lights blurring as they passed.

“Almost there now,” Grace said.

They parked outside the station and Yaz unbuckled her seatbelt. “I have to get my stuff and get changed. I’ll be a few minutes, do you want to come in?” she asked Jenny. “Or you can wait in my car.”

“Stay with me,” Grace said. “We can catch up while you wait for Yaz.”

“Great idea, Grace,” Yaz said and patted Jenny’s shoulder. “See you in a few.”

She got out and headed inside the station as Jenny and Grace watched. A light drizzle had begun.  

“Are you sure you’re alright, love?” Grace said. “You’ve been quiet. Quieter than usual that is.”

The tip of Jenny’s shoulder had a static feeling where Yaz touched her, she couldn’t take her mind off it. “I’m fine, just tired. A lot’s happened in the last few hours.”

Grace nodded. “A lot more excitement than you’re used to.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Everyone can stop going on about my social life now, thanks.”

Grace laughed heartily. “... And I’m sure Yaz is a lot of mental stimulation too.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, Jenny, love. You’re an easy one to read. I know you like her.”

“I barely know her.”

“That’s usually how it starts.”

“I feel like I do though,” Jenny said, mostly to herself.

“Go on,” Grace prompted.

Jenny sighed. “I don’t know what it is but since I met Yaz…” What? She couldn’t even explain it to herself, let alone Grace.

“Take your time,” Grace said.

“Like… not like I met her before, I mean I couldn’t have. Just it’s like I already know her.”

She leaned back against the headrest, thinking. “When she speaks it’s like I know what she’s going to say before she says it. I don’t of course but once she’s said it it’s like, oh yeah, I knew Yaz would say that. As if I always knew. Except I didn’t. Does that make any sense?”

“No,” Grace said, “but I think I know what you mean. I’m like that with Graham.”

“Have you always been like that?”

“No. It came with time. Experience, learning, trust. I just got to know him. Really know him.”

Jenny looked out across the car park to the lit windows of the police station. That didn’t clear anything up.

“Look, Jen. This sort of thing isn’t something we can fully understand. Have you ever had someone you love get hurt and know it before anyone told you about it? Feel it, like a zap in your guts.”

Jenny couldn’t remember ever feeling that, but she knew exactly what Grace meant. “This sort of thing?”

“Love,” Grace said, catching her eye. “Maybe it’s just me,” she went on, looking out again into the dark. “My point is… I think there’s something that ties us together. We can’t see it but it’s there. Maybe it’s chemicals, maybe it’s… fate. But whatever it is, it’s pulling us to the right people. You feel as if you’re getting close to Yaz, very quickly, very intensely. That doesn’t strictly mean that what you’re feeling isn’t real, even if it seems to make no sense. I don’t think there’s any reason to be afraid of it.”

“Wouldn’t it be weird for Yaz? If she knew, I mean. To her I’m just someone she met.”

“She called you a friend! Clearly she doesn’t think you’re some passing ship, if today’s anything to go by. There’s only one way to know for sure, though. Just see where this goes.”

Suddenly the passenger door opened. Yaz bent down and smiled brightly at them both. “Ready, Jenny?”

“Yeah.” Jenny undid her seatbelt as Yaz stood up, her head above the car. Grace caught Jenny’s gaze and held it for a moment, communicating encouragement.

“If you need anything at all tonight, any time, let me know, alright?”

“Yes, sure.”

Grace clasped her shoulder. “I mean it, Jenny. Something doesn’t feel right, just call. I’ll be right over.”

“Thank you Grace.” Jenny covered Grace’s hand with her own. “For everything,” she added in a whisper. Grace nodded.  

“Thanks so much, Grace,” Yaz said. “It was great to see you again.”

“And you, Yaz. Alright, I’ll leave you to it. Bye girls!”

They watched Grace’s car leave, waving to her. Jenny shivered as the drizzle started to become more of a downpour. Yaz put her arm around her shoulders and led them towards her car. “Right. Let’s get you home. We’ll pick up your bike on the way.”

“If it’s still there…”

“Think positive.”

When they got back to the scene of the accident, Yaz made Jenny stay in the car despite her protests, and went to find the bike. It was exactly where Jenny threw it earlier in the evening.

She stuck her hand in to grab the handlebars from the bush and pulled it out into the light of a streetlamp. Of course, it had a deep blue frame. Yaz wouldn’t be surprised if the TARDIS influenced that decision herself, she’d hate to be forgotten completely- however necessary it was.

Yaz wheeled the bike back to the car. Jenny opened the door and yelled out, “Is she okay?”

“You won’t be riding it for a few days anyway. Get back in the car!”

Bike safely stowed away in the boot, Yaz got back in the car. “She?”

Jenny shrugged. “She feels like a she.”

“Does she have a name as well?”

“Haven’t had time to come up with one. What’s a good name for a bike?”

Yaz chuckled as she started the engine. “No idea.”

They were on their way again. Jenny’s directions were a bit off, (due to the darkness according to her. Yaz suspected her spatial awareness was compromised) but they made it to her flat.

“I’ll see you in,” Yaz said as she switched off the engine.

“Can you stay a little while?”

“Of course,” Yaz answered automatically. The Doctor was going to have a fit when she came back. Yaz imagined she would anyway, she really wasn’t sure why staying away from Jenny was such a big deal.

“Thank you,” Jenny said. “I’m sure you’re sick of my face by now-”

“I’m not, trust me. I’ve actually really enjoyed this time with you.”

“Really? Me too.”

Yaz beamed. “I mean, sorry about your head and… face- circumstances could’ve been better… but I’m glad I got to see you again.”

It went very quiet, just rain beating on the roof above them.

Yaz was looking ahead at her house and Jenny took a moment just to look at her, starting from her collarbone protruding against  her jumper, up her neck and chin, to her lips turned up at the edge, to her dimple. Jenny followed the line up Yaz’s nose to her eyes shining in the glow of Graham and Grace’s security light.  A damp curl fell gently onto her forehead and Jenny smiled, reaching into her pocket for her keys. “We should get inside now.”

“Yeah,” said Yaz. “Let’s.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4 months eh? I don't really have an excuse except sometimes when a show is on hiatus I forget it exists and lose interest until it's back on so taking a break from writing this wasn't my brightest idea. We're quite close to the end but I won't make any promises about update schedules with college starting up. I hope you enjoy and thank you very much for reading.

Jenny unlocked the door. 

“Who lives upstairs?” Yaz asked, peering up into the darkness. 

“No one. Which is fine by me-- no one to complain about me leaving my bike in the hallway.”

 

They got inside and Yaz looked around the room while Jenny kicked her shoes off. Yaz followed suit. 

“Cup of tea?” Jenny asked her, making a beeline for the kettle and flipping it on. 

“Oh yes. You hungry?” Yaz was ravenous, she could barely remember lunch.

“I could eat. There’s soup in the fridge I think, let me see…” She pulled out a carton and got the milk out while she was at it.  

“I’ll do it,” Yaz said, “You sit down.”

“You don’t have to—”One look from Yaz stopped her. “Thank you. Actually I think I’ll change, my clothes are all dirty now.” She walked through the kitchen to her bedroom. “I’ll be back here, yell if you need anything.”

“Alright,” Yaz replied, pouring the carrot soup into a pot she found on the draining board. 

She put on some toast (bizarrely, in a four-slot toaster) while the soup heated and took a moment to look around the flat. Chaotic cozy, that’s how she would describe it. Stacks of books on the coffee table, a threadbare red sofa with a lavender blanket thrown over the back and more mismatched pillows than was necessary for one piece of furniture. A small desk between the kitchen and the living room had piles of papers that looked semi-organised and pens and markers lay scattered, threatening to roll off the edge. A calendar covered with post-its hung above the desk (how far had Jenny had planned ahead, Yaz wondered), and an alarm clock was on the strip of kitchen counter visible from Jenny’s office chair. A cereal bowl full of sugar and a glass jar of teabags sat next to the kettle. There was a huge biscuit tin in the corner. 

The toast popped and the sound of the soup boiling broke through to Yaz. She swiped the pot off the heat just as Jenny walked back in wearing a knitted blue jumper, what looked to be men’s pyjama bottoms and thick, stripy socks. Yaz couldn’t think of anything but how soft Jenny looked, fluffing her hair and wiping it back off her face as she came closer. “Thanks so much, Yaz.”

“No worries.”

Jenny buttered the toast while Yaz poured the soup into bowls. They made their tea and once finished, they went to the living room and flopped down onto the sofa. 

“It’s mad that you know Ryan.”

“Small world.”

“It certainly is,” Jenny said, “Good thing too,” she added, glancing to Yaz’s eyes with an intensity that sent blood rushing to Yaz’s face. 

“Did you stay in touch with other friends from school?”

“Ah yeah, a few. To be honest with you though, my social life isn’t much to speak of. Married to the job as my sister would say.”

“You and me both,” Jenny replied.

Yaz felt a bit awkward, not around Jenny but the strangeness of the situation. This flat, it felt lived-in. Permanent. She quickly forgot about it as they relaxed over the meal and got to talking some more about the day’s events. 

“I’m proud of you. You were very brave,” Yaz said jokingly, as if to a toddler.

Jenny laughed. “Thank you. Honestly, I wouldn’t have gone to the hospital- can’t stand doctors, being poked at- only I didn’t want to get you in trouble at work. Heard what PC Hillard said.”

“I would never have made you do anything you didn’t agree to. Luckily you were okay though, so it would’ve been fine.”

“Yeah, I’m sure if I died the paperwork would’ve been a nightmare.” Jenny laughed again.

“Ugh, no, don’t even say it.” Yaz reached forward and knocked on the coffee table.

As she fell back against the sofa, Jenny heard her let out a sigh of genuine relief. She seemed pretty invested, Jenny thought, and joy surged in her, followed by what she guessed might be suspicion. Just a bit. She knew how she felt about Yaz, not why but how. What was Yaz thinking?

“I feel like I’ve met you before,” Jenny said, before she could talk herself out of it. 

“How do you mean?” Yaz asked. Don’t push it, she thought. One good jolt could make cracks in Jenny’s identity, just like the accident. “You haven’t been arrested have you?” she joked, but Jenny’s expression was serious.

“It’s as if, I don’t know,” Jenny smiled slightly, “Like we knew each other in a past life maybe.”

Yaz shrugged. “Maybe we did.” Still cautious she debated elaboration. “I do feel a lot more connected to you than I usually would with anyone else I knew as well I do you. If that makes sense.” It wasn’t a total lie, she was constantly being surprised now by how close she felt to Jenny, separate from her friendship with the Doctor. 

Jenny looked up at Yaz once she processed what she said and found her deep in thought. She trusted Yaz completely, she realised. She didn’t have to be afraid. She remembered Grace’s advice and let herself relax. Just see where this goes.

They talked long after their cups were drained. It was a bit like getting to know the Doctor all over again,Yaz thought, except not at all because it wasn’t the Doctor. She kept comparing her and Jenny. 

Sharing nuggets of her life she had shared with the Doctor before, now with Jenny’s slightly different, far more human response. It was weird, she knew, yet she felt quite comfortable.

Then she told Jenny things she had never told the Doctor, just random things about daily life— her Earth life, that she never had reason to share before. Boring stuff Yaz supposed she thought the Doctor couldn’t relate to, but was what human life was made of. Little work anecdotes, home life she’d have to explain at length to an alien. Things that, when said, fascinated the Doctor as if she was reading it from a fantasy book. Different levels of understanding, Yaz guessed that might be it. The Doctor in the TARDIS was a bit too far from the humdrum of everyday life, and she was so often a witness to things she wasn’t a part of, a traveller passing through and off on her way again, never settled— her perspective made sense. Normal conversations felt perfectly natural with Jenny in a way they didn’t with the Doctor. She shared the same realm of problems and joys as Yaz and every other person on Earth. At a basic level even, they shared the same sense of linear time. 

Yaz was careful not to ask Jenny anything about a past that didn’t exist and kept the conversation around the last two months, trying to keep Jenny’s life intact. She was curious about everything Jenny had been doing, and it was just work and home and completely normal boring things, but fascinating to hear it coming from the Doctor’s mouth. 

Listening to Jenny recount an episode of a student spilling diluted hydrochloric acid on his bench and crying because he thought his hand would burn off, Yaz had a stab of sorrow, knowing it would never be like this again. If the Doctor remembered everything Jenny did— all these things they talked about, tiny details of Yaz’s own life, the difference in how Yaz spoke to her— what would it be like? What would it do to their relationship?

There was so much she didn’t know about the Doctor. Such a long life, of course, but she was deliberately private when it came to her past. She only shared little snippets when it came up. Yaz often wondered, how well could they ever know each other?

It was getting late and Jenny was getting tired, Yaz could tell. 

“I think it’s time for you to go to bed,” Yaz said. 

“Hm, you may be right,” Jenny replied, rubbing her temple. 

They stood up and stretched, they had both lost track of how long they were talking. Yaz checked the time on her phone. “You can take some paracetamol now, I think.”

“I’ve got some, it’s in my bag.” 

Yaz touched her arm. 

“I’ve got it. Go on to your room, I’ll bring it to you.”

“Thank you, Yaz.” Jenny looked at her tenderly as she went to leave the room. “It’s in the very front pocket.”

Yaz found the backpack under the table. She dug her hand inside and brought out a crumbly lemon puff. She smiled to herself, slightly revolting but a common occurance on the TARDIS. 

Putting the biscuit down she continued her search for tablets. Something flat and smooth fell against her hand and Yaz took it out. Instantly she recognised the Gallifreyan script etched on the surface of the metal. The fob watch the Doctor told her about, with everything she was held inside. No wonder it was so warm.

On her bed, Jenny pulled off her jumper. Out of nowhere she was overwhelmed with a sense of comfort, like someone she loved had sat down and rubbed against her shoulder. She settled back into the pillows against the headboard and basked in the feeling. Her head still felt funny, worse even, but this coziness was taking over. Maybe it was just the fact that Yaz was in the next room. Spending the evening with her was magical. How could she get so lucky?

Yaz felt a dip on the back of the watch and turned it over, spotting a dent in the metal. It was deep enough to warp the edge, and, Yaz saw now, part the two halves with a tiny crack. She ran her thumb gently over the opening.

“Yaz?” Jenny called, “You alright? Did you find ‘em?”

“Yep! Just a sec’, I’ll get you some water.” 

Jenny had already come out to the kitchen, and she was looking at Yaz’s hands. 

“Sorry,” Yaz said hastily, “I had to dig for them.” 

She quickly but carefully put the watch back in Jenny’s bag, nestling it in a pair of gloves. She spotted the foil packet of  paracetamol at the very bottom and took it out.

Jenny took them, unbothered, though she realised that cozy feeling had disappeared. “That’s alright, it’s a complete mess in there.” She popped a couple of tablets out while Yaz filled a glass. Yaz handed the water over and Jenny swallowed the two tablets in one gulp as she walked back into her room. Yaz followed, but stayed in the doorway as Jenny sat down on the bed.

“Feels like my head’s about to explode.”

“Is the pain getting worse?”

Jenny shrugged. “Not really, it’s like pressure.”

“I can stay.” Yaz heard the words coming out before she knew she said them. “Tonight. Stay with you and make sure you’re okay.”

Jenny looked startled and Yaz regretted what she said. She still wanted it though.

“Would that be weird?” Yaz couldn’t make herself feel that way. She was meant to be with the Doctor, and right now that was Jenny. To leave her now felt wrong, no matter how she viewed their position. No matter what the Doctor said, she knew in her heart what was right.

“Maybe it should be,” Jenny said nervously, “But… it doesn’t feel like it.” There was something on the tip of her tongue. You know what, Yaz? This is the most safe I’ve felt in a while. Even with a concussion this is the most like myself I’ve ever felt. Like with you is exactly where I’m supposed to be. But she didn’t say any of that. Instead she said, “Stay.”

Yaz nodded. She smiled. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Jenny said. 

Yaz stepped back out of the room. “I’ll go take the sofa.”

“Oh no, Yaz, please take the bed.”

“No, Jenny. You need some proper rest tonight. Sleep well,” Yaz said with some finality. She left and closed the door as she went, ignoring the pull she had to the woman behind it. 

Jenny felt a little empty once the door shut. What did she expect though, Yaz to climb into bed with her? Silly. She didn’t have much energy left to think on it though. As soon as she settled under the blankets, Jenny fell fast asleep. 

Yaz sent a text to her Mum, saying she was staying with a friend tonight. ‘What friend?’ her mum came back with, and Yaz favoured leaving the message unopened over lying and saying she was with the Doctor, or attempting to explain who Jenny was. She lay back on the sofa, pulling the purple blanket over herself. She closed her eyes and did her best to drift off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "What did she expect though, Yaz to climb into bed with her?"  
> All of you reading this: umm YEAH!?


	11. Chapter 11

Yaz struggled to sleep. The sofa was the comfiest she’d ever had as a bed but she had to keep one ear listening out for anything unusual from Jenny’s bedroom. She got up three times throughout the night to go and check on her, each time she was fast asleep, perfectly fine. Around 3 A.M she finally relaxed and dropped off properly, then, as if no time had passed, she was roused by sunlight filling the flat. Yaz checked her phone and knew she would have to go to work soon. She got up and made two cups of tea, recalling how Jenny liked it, strong with milk and three sugars (two less than the Doctor). She took a few quick gulps and knocked on the bedroom door, waiting a moment before she opened it. Jenny’s head was under the blankets, her breathing lifting the mass of duvet up and down steadily. Yaz sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and stroked what she hoped was Jenny’s arm under the blanket. “Jenny?”

The duvet shifted. “Hrgh…”

“I’ve got to go to work in a bit.”

Jenny turned over and opened her eyes, taking in Yaz slowly. “Yaz! Good to see you!” she said excitedly, suddenly alert. “I was just thinking of you. Had a dream about that trip we took to Barcelona. Speaking of Barcelona— space Barcelona, that is, not Spain Barcelona, we must go back because there’s something I want to show you. Picture this,” she moved her hands in an arc, “A cathedral, the biggest you ever saw, completely made of glass! Absolutely everything, inside and outside. And not just clear glass, that’s boring, all different colours— some of which don’t even exist on Earth! How about it, eh? Do you want to go?”

Yaz was stunned. She didn’t know what to do. “...Jenny?”

“Morning, Yaz.” In a blink, the Doctor’s face relaxed, now sleepy and slack. “Is that for me?” Jenny nodded to the mugs Yaz was holding.

“Yeah.” Yaz handed Jenny’s over, reeling from what just happened.

“Are you alright, Yaz?” Jenny asked as she took a sip. “You look a bit pale.”

Yaz shook herself and put on a smile. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“When do you have to be at the station?”

“Twenty minutes or so. I’d better get going.”

“I’ll walk you out!” said Jenny, sweeping the blanket away. 

Out on the doorstep, Jenny enveloped Yaz in a big hug. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said in Yaz’s ear.

“You don’t have to thank me, I had fun. It was really nice getting to know you.”

“You too.”

It was only after stepping into the driveway that they noticed they had an audience. Grace, Graham and Ryan were over the wall, watching them. 

“Hi!” Yaz said. “Ryan, it’s good to see you.”

“And you, Yaz. I didn’t believe Nan when she told me.”

“It’s a weird coincidence,” Jenny said.

“No, I mean that you met someon—”

“How are you feeling, Jenny?” Grace interjected. “You’re looking much better.”

“I’m feeling much better. Thank you, Grace.”

“I knew you’d have an accident on that bike,” said Graham. He looked at Yaz, “One of her lights has been out for weeks.”

“I wasn’t even using my lights!”

“Which is exactly my point, love.”

“It wasn’t dark yet, Graham.”

“I’m sorry,” Yaz interrupted, “I really have to go.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jenny said. “Thanks again, Yaz.”

“I left my number on your desk, text me later and let me know how you’re doing, alright?”

“Sure,” Jenny replied.

“Alright, talk to you later.” Yaz opened her car door. “Good to see you guys,” she addressed the neighbours. 

“You too, Yaz!” Grace called. Graham and Ryan waved to her as she shut the door and started the car. Once Yaz had left the driveway, all three of them looked at Jenny. 

“So,” Ryan said, “Yaz stayed the night.”

“I’m going back to bed,” Jenny turned around on the spot. 

“Good for you, cockle!” Graham shouted out before she could shut the door.

* * *

At work, Yaz checked her messages. A few more inquisitive texts from her mum— she answered simply: _"At work, talk later. I’ll be home at 6.”_

She got to work, clearing paperwork she missed from the day before. Jack dropped the report from Jenny’s accident on her desk to sign off on. 

“Was she alright in the end?”

“Yeah, yeah. Concussion, but honestly she was fine when I left her.”

“Was she on her own last night?”

There was a beat of hesitation while Yaz thought up a lie. “No, no! A friend stayed.”

Jack made a face. “Ergh, what kind of friend?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… did you miss your chance?”

“It’s not like that, Jack.”

“It’s alright if it is though. God, you know you could let someone in some time.”

Yaz sighed and spun her chair back towards the desk. Not today. 

Jack groaned. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be mean, I just— you only live once. Best not to have regrets, you know?”

He meant well. That didn’t make his chosen topic of conversation any less annoying. 

“I hear you,” Yaz said. “It’s not like that with Jenny though.”

At the end of lunch Yaz’s phone lit up. _“Hi! Just woke up! Still alive! Feelin fine!”_ Then, _“How’s work?”_

Yaz typed back, _“Glad to hear it, any headaches?”_

_ “No pain, just pressure. Fine though!” _

_ “Let me know if it gets worse.” _

_ “How’s work Yaz?” _

_ “It’s fine. Boring. I actually have to go now. Traffic-watch.” _

_ “Stay strong!” _

_ “Haha, thanks. Might pop by later to check on you? Have to check in at home first.” _

_ “I’d love to see you. Come by whenever, I’m not going anywhere!” _

Yaz and Jack spent the rest of the day out on the roads, watching for speeders again. Fortunately, the time passed quickly and before she knew it Yaz was on her way home. She only had to tackle her mum’s questions and she could relax until the next problem arose. She was trying to think of someone to be her alibi, but of course, hardly being around Sheffield and then throwing herself into work the past few months she struggled to come up with anyone that could convince her mum she wasn’t hiding something. 

Yaz parked her car and was climbing the hill up to the flats when she saw it: a blue silhouette against the pink sky. The TARDIS.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bringing Sexy back. Yeah.
> 
> Most likely going to be a long wait on the next chapter, I'm afraid. I'm determined to finish this though!   
> Thanks so much for reading!


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